r its main
exports: fish and fish products, aluminum, and ferrosilicon.
Government policies include reducing the budget and current account
deficits, limiting foreign borrowing, containing inflation, revising
agricultural and fishing policies, diversifying the economy, and
privatizing state-owned industries. The government remains opposed
to EU membership, primarily because of Icelanders' concern about
losing control over their fishing resources. Iceland's economy has
been diversifying into manufacturing and service industries in the
last decade, and new developments in software production,
biotechnology, and financial services are taking place. The tourism
sector is also expanding, with the recent trends in ecotourism and
whale watching. Growth had been remarkably steady in 1996-2001 at
3%-5%, but could not be sustained in 2002 in an environment of
global recession. Growth resumed in 2003, and inflation dropped back
from 5% to 2%.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $8.678 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.6% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $30,900 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 9.2% (includes fishing 12%)
industry: 26.7%
services: 64.2% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
21.6% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.1% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
160,000 (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 5.1%, fishing and fish processing 11.8%, manufacturing
12.9%, construction 10.7%, services 59.5% (1999)

Unemployment rate:
3.4% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $4.205 billion
expenditures: $4.405 billion, including capital expenditures of $467
million (2003)

Public debt:
41.5% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
potatoes, green vegetables, mutton, dairy products, fish

Industries:
fish processing; aluminum smelting, ferrosilicon production,
geothermal power; tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
8.1% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
7.894 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
7.341 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
16,300 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exp