ncery at
1601 Fuller Street NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone (202) 328-5500;
there are Italian Consulates General in Boston, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans,
Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Consulates in Detroit and
Newark (New Jersey);
US--Ambassador Peter F. SECCHIA; Embassy at Via Veneto 119/A, 00187-Rome
(mailing address is APO New York 09794); telephone p39o (6) 46741; there are
US Consulates General in Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, and Palermo (Sicily)

Flag: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red;
similar to the flag of Ireland which is longer and is green (hoist side), white,
and orange; also similar to the flag of the Ivory Coast which has the colors
reversed--orange (hoist side), white, and green

- Economy
Overview: Since World War II the economy has changed from one based on
agriculture into a ranking industrial economy, with approximately the same total
and per capita output as France and the UK. The country is still divided into a
developed industrial north, dominated by large private companies and state
enterprises and an undeveloped agricultural south. Services account for 58% of
GDP, industry 37%, and agriculture 5%. Most raw materials needed by industry and
over 75% of energy requirements must be imported. The economic recovery that
began in mid-1983 has continued through 1989, with the economy growing at an
annual average rate of 3%. For the 1990s, Italy faces the problems of
refurbishing a tottering communications system, curbing the increasing
pollution in major industrial centers, and adjusting to the new
competitive forces accompanying the ongoing economic integration of the
European Community.

GDP: $803.3 billion, per capita $14,000; real growth rate 3.3% (1989 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.6% (1989 est.)

Unemployment rate: 11.9% (1989)

Budget: revenues $355 billion; expenditures $448 billion,
including capital expenditures of $NA (1989)

Exports: $141.6 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--textiles,
wearing apparel, metals, transportation equipment, chemicals;
partners--EC 57%, US 9%, OPEC 4%

Imports: $143.1 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--petroleum,
industrial machinery, chemicals, metals, food, agricultural products;
partners--EC 57%, OPEC 6%, US 6%

External debt: NA

Industrial production: growth rate 2.9% (1989)

Electricity: 56,022,000 kW capacity; 201,400 million kWh produced,
3,500 kWh per capita (1989)

Indu