e: 5% industry: 40% services: 55%
(2001 est.)

Population below poverty line: 67% (1997 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 37.6% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 48.8 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12.3% (2001)

Labor force: 9.9 million (1999)

Labor force - by occupation: services 64%, industry 23%, agriculture 13%
(1997 est.)

Unemployment rate: 14.1% (2001 est.)

Budget: revenues: $21.5 billion expenditures: $27 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries: petroleum, iron ore mining, construction materials, food
processing, textiles, steel, aluminum, motor vehicle assembly

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 80.754 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 22.87% hydro: 77.13%
other: 0% (2000) nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption: 75.101 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products: corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas,
vegetables, coffee; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish

Exports: $29.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Exports - commodities: petroleum, bauxite and aluminum, steel, chemicals,
agricultural products, basic manufactures

Exports - partners: US 60%, Brazil 5.5%, Colombia 3.5%, Italy 3.5%,
Spain 3.4% (2000)

Imports: $18.4 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports - commodities: raw materials, machinery and equipment, transport
equipment, construction materials

Imports - partners: US 35.8%, Colombia 6.8%, Brazil 4.5%, Germany 3.9%,
Italy 3.9% (2000)

Debt - external: $34.5 billion (2000)

Economic aid - recipient: $35 million with more assistance likely as
a result of flooding (1999)

Currency: bolivar (VEB)

Currency code: VEB

Exchange rates: bolivares per US dollar - 761.225 (January 2002), 723.666
(2001), 679.960 (2000), 605.717 (1999), 547.556 (1998), 488.635 (1997)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications Venezuela

Telephones - main lines in use: 2.6 million (however, 3,500,000 have
been installed) (1998)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 2 million (1998)

Telephone system: general assessment: modern and expanding domestic:
domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations; recent substantial
improvement in telephone service in rural areas; substantial increase
in digitalization of exchanges and trunk line