labor force. The government has successfully reduced the rate of
inflation from double-digit figures in the late 1970s to 3.3% in
1990. In 1987, after years of deficits, the balance of payments was
brought into the black. Unemployment, however, is a serious problem. A
1990 unemployment rate of 16.6% placed Ireland along with Spain as the
countries with the worst jobless records in Western Europe.

_#_GDP: $33.9 billion, per capita $9,690; real growth rate 4.1%
(1990)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.3% (1990)

_#_Unemployment rate: 16.6% (1990)

_#_Budget: revenues $11.3 billion; expenditures $11.7 billion,
including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (1990)

_#_Exports: $24.6 billion (f.o.b., 1990);

commodities--chemicals, data processing equipment, industrial
machinery, live animals, animal products;

partners--EC 74% (UK 34%, FRG 11%, France 10%), US 8%

_#_Imports: $20.7 billion (c.i.f., 1990);

commodities--food, animal feed, chemicals, petroleum and petroleum
products, machinery, textiles, clothing;

partners--EC 66% (UK 41%, FRG 9%, France 4%), US 16%

_#_External debt: $16.0 billion (1990)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate 4.7% (1990); accounts for
37% of GDP

_#_Electricity: 4,957,000 kW capacity; 14,480 million kWh produced,
4,080 kWh per capita (1989)

_#_Industries: food products, brewing, textiles, clothing, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, machinery, transportation equipment, glass and crystal

_#_Agriculture: accounts for 10% of GNP and 15% of the labor force;
principal crops--turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat;
livestock--meat and dairy products; 85% self-sufficient in food; food
shortages include bread grain, fruits, vegetables

_#_Economic aid: donor--ODA commitments (1980-89), $90 million

_#_Currency: Irish pound (plural--pounds); 1 Irish pound (5Ir) =
100 pence

_#_Exchange rates: Irish pounds (5Ir) per US$1--0.5656 (January
1991), 0.6030 (1990), 0.7472 (1989), 0.6553 (1988), 0.6720 (1987), 0.7454
(1986), 0.9384 (1985)

_#_Fiscal year: calendar year

_*_Communications
_#_Railroads: Irish National Railways (CIE) operates 1,947 km
1.602-meter gauge, government owned; 485 km double track; 38 km
electrified

_#_Highways: 92,294 km total; 87,422 km surfaced, 4,872 km gravel or
crushed stone

_#_Inland waterways: limited for commercial traffic

_#_Pipelines: natural gas, 225 km

_#_Ports: Cork, Dublin, Shannon E