cts,
textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages,
footwear, wood

Industrial production growth rate: 4.4% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production: 2.233 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 81.68% hydro: 9.4%
other: 8.92% (2000) nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption: 2.176 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports: 1 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports: 100 million kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products: coffee, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn,
tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products

Exports: $609.5 million (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities: coffee, shrimp and lobster, cotton, tobacco,
beef, sugar, bananas; gold

Exports - partners: US 57.7%, Germany 5.3%, Canada 4.2%, Costa Rica 3.3%,
Honduras 3% (2000)

Imports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum
products, consumer goods

Imports - partners: US 23.9%, Costa Rica 11.4%, Venezuela 9.9%, Guatemala
7.9%, Mexico 5.9% (2000)

Debt - external: $6.1 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: NA

Currency: gold cordoba (NIO)

Currency code: NIO

Exchange rates: gold cordobas per US dollar - 13.88 (January 2002),
13.37 (2001), 12.69 (2000), 11.81 (1999), 10.58 (1998), 9.45 (1997)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications Nicaragua

Telephones - main lines in use: 140,000 (1996)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 7,911 (1997)

Telephone system: general assessment: inadequate system being upgraded
by foreign investment domestic: low-capacity microwave radio relay and
wire system being expanded; connected to Central American Microwave
System international: 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 63, FM 32, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios: 1.24 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 3 (plus seven low-power repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 320,000 (1997)

Internet country code: .ni

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (2000)

Internet users: 20,000 (2000)

Transportation Nicaragua

Railways: total: 6 km narrow gauge: 6 km 1.067-m gauge note: carries
mostly passengers from Chichigalpa to Ingenio San Antonio (2001)

Highways: total: 16,382 km paved: 1,818 km unpaved: 14,564 km (1998)

Waterways: 2,220 km (including 2 large lakes)

Pipelines: crude oil 56 km

Ports and harbors: Bluefields, Corinto, El Bluff,