ore than 300,000 workers entering the
labor force annually. Local economists estimate that the economy
must grow between 5% and 6% in real terms annually to absorb all of
the new entrants, much less reduce the accumulated total.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $215 billion (1995 est.)

GDP real growth rate: 3.3% (1995 est.)

GDP per capita: $4,800 (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.7% (1995)

Labor force: 14.2 million economically active (1996)
by occupation: services 35%, agriculture 30%, industry 20%, mining
9%, other 6%

Unemployment rate: 32.6% (1996 est.); an additional 11%
underemployment

Budget:
revenues: $30.5 billion
expenditures: $38 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.6
billion (FY94/95 est.)

Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold,
chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile,
iron and steel, chemical, fertilizer, foodstuffs

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity:
capacity: 39,750,000 kW
production: 163 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 3,482 kWh (1993)

Agriculture: corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; cattle,
poultry, sheep, wool, milk, beef

Illicit drugs: transshipment center for heroin and cocaine;
cocaine consumption on the rise; world's largest market for illicit
methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various
east African countries; illicit cultivation of marijuana

Exports: $27.9 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: gold 27%, other minerals and metals 20%-25%, food 5%,
chemicals 3% (1994)
partners: Italy, Japan, US, Germany, UK, other EU countries, Hong
Kong

Imports: $27 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: machinery 32%, transport equipment 15%, chemicals 11%,
oil, textiles, scientific instruments (1994)
partners: Germany, US, Japan, UK, Italy

External debt: $22 billion (1995 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA
note: current aid pledges include US $600 million over three years
ending in 1996; UK $150 million over three years; Australia $21
million over three years; Japan $1.3 billion over two years ending
in 1996; EU $833 million over five years

Currency: 1 rand (R) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: rand (R) per US$1 - 3.6417 (January 1996), 3.6266
(1995), 3.5490 (1994), 3.2636 (1993), 2.8497 (1992), 2.7563 (1991)