employment rate: 13% (1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $11.99 billion
expenditures : $11.48 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.3
billion (1996 est.)

Industries: petroleum, iron ore mining, construction materials, food
processing, textiles, steel, aluminum, motor vehicle assembly

Industrial production growth rate: 0.5% (1995 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 18.966 million kW (1995)

Electricity - production: 74.886 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 2,887 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas,
vegetables, coffee; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish

Exports:
total value : $22.8 billion (f.o.b., 1996 est.)
commodities: petroleum 72%, bauxite and aluminum, steel, chemicals,
agricultural products, basic manufactures
partners: US and Puerto Rico 55%, Japan, Netherlands, Italy

Imports:
total value : $10.2 billion (f.o.b., 1996 est.)
commodities: raw materials, machinery and equipment, transport
equipment, construction materials
partners: US 40%, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Canada

Debt - external: $26.5 billion (1996)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $46 million (1993)

Currency: 1 bolivar (Bs) = 100 centimos

Exchange rates: bolivares (Bs) per US$1 - 476.840 (January 1997),
417.333 (1996), 176.843 (1995), 148.503 (1994), 90.826 (1993), 68.376
(1992)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Venezuela:Communications

Telephones: 1.44 million (1987 est.)

Telephone system: modern and expanding
domestic: domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations
international: 3 submarine coaxial cables; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 181, FM 0, shortwave 26

Radios: 9.04 million (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 59

Televisions: 3.3 million (1992 est.)

@Venezuela:Transportation

Railways:
total : 584 km (336 km single track; 248 km privately owned)
standard gauge: 584 km 1.435-m gauge

Highways:
total: 82,700 km
paved: 32,501 km
unpaved: 50,199 km (1995 est.)

Waterways: 7,100 km; Rio Orinoco and Lago de Maracaibo accept
oceangoing vessels

Pipelines: crude oil 6,370 km; petroleum products 480 km; natural gas
4,010 km

Ports and harbors: Amuay, Bajo Grande, El Tablazo, La Guaira, La
Salina, Maracaibo, Matanzas, Palua, Puerto Cabello, Puerto la Cruz,
Puerto Ordaz, Puerto Sucre, Punta Cardon

Merchant marine:
total: 28 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 525,123 GRT/933,016 DW