rowth, ballooning
budget deficits, accelerating inflation, a plunging exchange rate, and
anemic foreign investment. Unemployment was low at about 6% at the end
of 1996, but the rate will rise when restructuring gets underway. A
new government elected in November 1996 promises to accelerate
economic reform, restructuring, and privatization, introduce fiscal
and monetary austerity, reduce the state's role in the economy, and
open Romania to foreign investment. The government will tackle its
formidable economic problems in two stages, with an emergency plan
over the winter of 1996/97 to ensure social and political stability,
followed by a radical structural reform program over its remaining
three-and-one-half years aimed eventually at EU accession. At the same
time, it wants to keep campaign promises to increase benefits to
disadvantaged groups. Bucharest hopes to receive financial and
technical assistance from international financial institutions and
western governments and negotiations over a new IMF standby agreement
are underway. If reform stalls, however, Romania's bond rating - just
below investment grade - could fall and needed capital from both
public and private sources could quickly dry up. Rich agricultural and
oil resources are strengths for the future.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $113.2 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.1% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,200 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 20%
industry: 33.4%
services: 46.6% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 56.9% (1996 est.)

Labor force:
total : 10.1 million (1996 est.)
by occupation: industry 28.8%, agriculture 36.4%, other 34.8% (1994)

Unemployment rate: 6.1% (1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $6 billion
expenditures: $7.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1996 est.)

Industries: mining, timber, construction materials, metallurgy,
chemicals, machine building, food processing, petroleum production and
refining

Industrial production growth rate: 7% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 22.06 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 52.48 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 2,245 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, sugar beets, sunflower seed,
potatoes, grapes; milk, eggs, meat

Exports:
total value: $7.7 billion (f.o.b., 1996 est.)
commodities: textiles and footwear 25.2%, metals and metal products