apital plant and
persistent shortages of energy. The year 1990 witnessed about a 20%
drop in industrial production because of energy and input shortages and
labor unrest. In recent years the agricultural sector has had to contend
with drought, mismanagement, and shortages of inputs. A drought in 1990
contributed to a lackluster harvest, a problem compounded by corruption
and a poor distribution system. The new government is slowly loosening
the tight central controls of Ceausescu's command economy. It has
instituted moderate land reforms, with close to one-half of cropland now
in private hands, and it has allowed changes in prices for private
agricultural output. Also, the new regime is permitting the
establishment of private enterprises, largely in services, handicrafts,
and small-scale industry. New laws providing for the privatization
of large state firms have been passed. However, most of the early
privatization will involve converting state firms into joint-stock
companies. The selling of shares to the public has not yet been worked
out. Furthermore, the government has halted the old policy of diverting
food from domestic consumption to hard currency export markets. So far,
the government does not seem willing to adopt a thoroughgoing market
system, that is, there is great caution in decontrolling prices because
of public opposition. The government has sharply raised price ceilings
instead of lifting them entirely.

_#_GNP: $69.9 billion, per capita $3,000; real growth rate - 10.8%
(1990 est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 50% (1990 est.)

_#_Unemployment rate: NA%

_#_Budget: revenues $28.4 billion; expenditures $28.4 billion,
including capital expenditures of $12.3 billion (1989)

_#_Exports: $9.2 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.);

commodities--machinery and equipment 34.7%, fuels, minerals and
metals 24.7%, manufactured consumer goods 16.9%, agricultural materials
and forestry products 11.9%, other 11.6% (1986);

partners--USSR 27%, Eastern Europe 23%, EC 15%, US 5%, China 4%
(1987)

_#_Imports: $10.9 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.);

commodities--fuels, minerals, and metals 51.0%, machinery and
equipment 26.7%, agricultural and forestry products 11.0%, manufactured
consumer goods 4.2% (1986);

partners--Communist countries 60%, non-Communist countries 40%
(1987)

_#_External debt: $400 million (mid-1990)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate - 20% (1990 est.)

_#_Electricity