GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 14%
industry : 27%
services: 59% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 7.4% (1996)

Labor force:
total: 2.2 million (1996 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 40%, commerce 16%, manufacturing 15%,
government 13%, financial services 9%, transportation 6%, other 1%

Unemployment rate: 7.6% (1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues : $1.75 billion
expenditures: $1.82 billion, including capital expenditures of $317
million (1997 est.)

Industries: food processing, beverages, petroleum, chemicals,
fertilizer, textiles, furniture, light metals

Industrial production growth rate: 7.6% (1993)

Electricity - capacity: 900,000 kW (1996)

Electricity - production: 3.32 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 580 kWh (1996 est.)

Agriculture - products: coffee, sugarcane, corn, rice, beans, oilseed,
cotton, sorghum; beef, dairy products; shrimp

Exports:
total value: $1.8 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: coffee, sugarcane; shrimp; textiles, chemicals
partners: US, Guatemala, Germany, Costa Rica, Honduras

Imports:
total value: $3.2 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities : raw materials, consumer goods, capital goods
partners: US, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Japan

Debt - external: $2.54 billion (yearend 1996)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $763 million (1996)
note: US has committed $250 million in aid to El Salvador for 1992-96

Currency: 1 Salvadoran colon (C) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: Salvadoran colones (C) per US$1 (end of period) -
8.755 (January 1997), 8.755 (1996), 8.755 (1995), 8.750 (1994), 8.670
(1993), 9.170 (1992), 8.080 (1991)
note: as of 1 June 1990, the rate is based on the average of the
buying and selling rates, set on a weekly basis, for official receipts
and payments, imports of petroleum, and coffee exports; prior to that
date, a system of floating was in effect

Fiscal year: calendar year

@El Salvador:Communications

Telephones: 300,000 (1996 est.)

Telephone system:
domestic: nationwide microwave radio relay system
international : satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean);
connected to Central American Microwave System

Radio broadcast stations: AM 18, FM 80, shortwave 2

Radios: 1 million (1996 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 11 (1996 est.)

Televisions: 600,000 (1996 est.)

@El Salvador:Transportation

Railways:
total: 602 km (single track; note - some sections abandoned, unus