restoring high rates of export growth to finance foreign liabilities,
and extensively recapitalizing the banking system.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$525 billion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: -0.4% (1997 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$8,800 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 10%
industry: 28.7%
services: 61.3% (1997)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 5.6% (1997 est.)

Labor force:
total: 32.6 million (1997 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 54%, industry 15%, services (including
government) 31% (1996 est.)

Unemployment rate: 3.5%

Budget:
revenues: $24 billion
expenditures: $25 billion, including capital expenditures of $8
billion (FY96/97)

Industries: tourism; textiles and garments, agricultural processing,
beverages, tobacco, cement, light manufacturing, such as jewelry;
electric appliances and components, computers and parts, integrated
circuits, furniture, plastics; world's second-largest tungsten
producer and third-largest tin producer

Industrial production growth rate: -15% (1997 est.)

Electricity-capacity: 15.838 million kW (1995)

Electricity-production: 77.5 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 1,295 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: rice, cassava (tapioca), rubber, corn,
sugarcane, coconuts, soybeans

Exports:
total value: $51.6 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
commodities: manufactures 82%, agricultural products and fisheries 14%
(1997)
partners: US 19.6%, Japan 14.9%, Singapore 11%, Hong Kong 5.7%,
Malaysia 4.3%, UK 3.7% (1997)

Imports:
total value: $73.5 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: capital goods 50%, consumer goods 10.2%, fuels 8.7%
(1997)
partners: Japan 25.6%, US 13.9%, Singapore 5%, Taiwan 4.6%, Germany
4.5%, Malaysia 4.1% (1997)

Debt-external: $90 billion (1997)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $624 million (1993)

Currency: 1 baht (B) = 100 satang

Exchange rates: baht (B) per US$1-53.812 (January 1998), 31.364
(1997), 25.343 (1996), 24.915 (1995), 25.150 (1994), 25.319 (1993)

Fiscal year: 1 October-30 September

Communications

Telephones: 1,553,200 (1994 est.)

Telephone system: service to general public adequate, but investments
in technological upgrades reduced by recession; bulk of service to
government activities provided by multichannel cable and microwave
radio relay network
domestic: microwave radio relay and multichannel cable; domestic
satellite system being developed
international: