lion

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

Unemployment rate: 11.5% (1997 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $11.99 billion
expenditures: $11.48 billion, including capital expenditures of $3
billion (1996 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 0.5% (1995 est.)

Electricity--production: 73 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 20.55%
hydro: 79.45%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)

Electricity--consumption: 72.85 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 150 million kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 0 kWh (1996)

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

Exports: $16.9 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports--commodities: petroleum, bauxite and aluminum, steel,
chemicals, agricultural products, basic manufactures (1998)

Exports--partners: US and Puerto Rico 57%, Colombia, Brazil (1997)

Imports: $12.4 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Imports--commodities: raw materials, machinery and equipment,
transport equipment, construction materials (1998)

Imports--partners: US 53%, Japan, Colombia, Italy, Germany (1997)

Debt--external: $26.5 billion (1996)

Economic aid--recipient: $50.8 million (1995)

Currency: 1 bolivar (Bs) = 100 centimos

Exchange rates: bolivares (Bs) per US$1--570.267 (January 1999),
547.556 (1998), 488.635 (1997), 417.333 (1996), 176.843 (1995),
148.503 (1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Telephones: 1.44 million (1987 est.)

Telephone system: modern and expanding
domestic: domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations
international: 3 submarine coaxial cables; satellite earth station--1
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 181, FM 0, shortwave 26

Radios: 9.04 million (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 66 (in addition, there are 45
repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 3.3 million (1992 est.)

Transportation

Railways:
total: 584 km (248 km privately owned)
standard gauge: 584 km 1.435-m gauge

Highways:
total: 84,300 km
paved: 33,214 km
unpaved: 51,086 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 7,100 km; Rio Orinoco and Lago de Maracaibo accept
oceangoing vessels

Pipelines: crude oil 6,370 km; petroleum products