d
ended the year with a nearly 5% rise in GDP. Uruguayan trade continued
to expand and the potential for new markets continued to open through
the negotiations of Mercosur (Southern Cone Common Market) with
neighboring countries and the European Union (EU). The economy is
expected to continue growing at a healthy rate in 1997 along with
other regional economies.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $26 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.9% (1996)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,000 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 10.8%
industry: 27.4%
services: 61.8% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 24.4% (December 1996)

Labor force:
total: 1.436 million (1996 est.)
by occupation: government 25%, manufacturing 19%, agriculture 11%,
commerce 12%, utilities, construction, transport, and communications
12%, other services 21% (1988 est.)

Unemployment rate: 12% (1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.03 billion
expenditures : $3.37 billion with capital expenditures of $NA (1994
est.)

Industries: meat processing, wool and hides, sugar, textiles,
footwear, leather apparel, tires, cement, petroleum refining, wine

Industrial production growth rate: 3.2% (1996)

Electricity - capacity: 2.142 million kW (1995)

Electricity - production: 6.308 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 1,568 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: wheat, rice, corn, sorghum; livestock; fishing

Exports:
total value : $2.4 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: wool and textile manufactures, beef and other animal
products, leather, rice
partners: Brazil, Argentina, US, China, Italy

Imports:
total value: $3.3 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: machinery and equipment, vehicles, chemicals, minerals,
plastics, oil
partners: Brazil, Argentina, US, Nigeria

Debt - external: $5 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $91 million (1993)

Currency: 1 Uruguayan peso ($Ur) = 100 centesimos

Exchange rates: Uruguayan pesos ($Ur) per US$1 - 8.6550 (January
1997), 7.9718 (1996), 6.3491 (1995), 5.0529 (1994), 3.9484 (1993),
3.0270 (1992)
note: on 1 March 1993 the former new peso (N$Ur) was replaced as
Uruguay's unit of currency by the peso which is equal to 1,000 of the
new pesos

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Uruguay:Communications

Telephones: 451,000 (1991 est.)

Telephone system: some modern facilities
domestic : most modern facilities concentrated i