ican Republic

Economy - overview: The Dominican economy experienced dramatic growth
over the last decade, even though the economy was hit hard by Hurricane
Georges in 1998. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as
an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service
sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer,
due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. The country suffers from
marked income inequality; the poorest half of the population receives
less than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoy 40% of national
income. A US $500 million foreign bond issue in September 2001 will
contribute to increased public investment spending.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $50 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.5% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,800 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 11.1% industry: 34.1% services:
54.8% (2000)

Population below poverty line: 25% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 39.6% (1989)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 47.4 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 2.3 million - 2.6 million

Labor force - by occupation: services and government 58.7%, industry
24.3%, agriculture 17% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate: 15% (2001 est.)

Budget: revenues: $2.9 billion expenditures: $3.2 billion, including
capital expenditures of $1.1 billion (2001 est.)

Industries: tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining,
textiles, cement, tobacco

Industrial production growth rate: 2% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production: 9.475 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 87.21% hydro: 12.53%
other: 0.26% (2000) nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption: 8,812.029 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products: sugarcane, coffee, cotton, cocoa, tobacco, rice,
beans, potatoes, corn, bananas; cattle, pigs, dairy products, beef, eggs

Exports: $5.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities: ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa,
tobacco, meats, consumer goods

Exports - partners: US 87.3%, Netherlands 1.1%, Canada 0.7%, France 0.7%
(2000 est.)

Imports: $8.7 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, petroleu