its currency in 2001, El Salvador has lost control over monetary
policy and must concentrate on maintaining a disciplined fiscal
policy. The current government has pursued economic diversification,
with some success in promoting textile production, international
port services, and tourism. It is committed to opening the economy
to trade and investment, and has embarked on a wave of
privatizations extending to telecom, electricity distribution,
banking, and pension funds.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$33.2 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$15.14 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$4,900 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 9.7%
industry: 29.6%
services: 60.7% (2006 est.)

Labor force:
2.856 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 17.1%
industry: 17.1%
services: 65.8% (2003 est.)

Unemployment rate:
6% official rate; but the economy has much underemployment (2006
est.)

Population below poverty line:
36.1% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.4%
highest 10%: 39.3% (2001)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
52.5 (2001)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.3% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
16.2% of GDP (2006 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $356.6 million
expenditures: $384.5 million; including capital expenditures of $NA
(2006 est.)

Public debt:
44.2% of GDP (2006 est.)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate:
2% (2006 est.)

Electricity - production:
4.174 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 44%
hydro: 30.9%
nuclear: 0%
other: 25.1% (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
4.229 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - exports:
109 million kWh (2004)

Electricity - imports:
456 million kWh (2004)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
43,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day (2001)

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

Current account b