araguay

Agriculture--products: coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn,
sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef

Exports: $51 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports--commodities: iron ore, soybean bran, orange juice,
footwear, coffee, motor vehicle parts

Exports--partners: EU 28%, Latin America (excluding Argentina)
23%, US 20%, Argentina 12% (1996)

Imports: $57.6 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Imports--commodities: crude oil, capital goods, chemical products,
foodstuffs, coal

Imports--partners: EU 26%, US 22%, Argentina 13%, Japan 5% (1996)

Debt--external: $258.1 billion (December 1998)

Economic aid--recipient: $1.012 billion (1995)

Currency: 1 real (R$) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: reals (R$) per US$1--1.501 (January 1999), 1.161
(1998), 1.078 (1997), 1.005 (1996), 0.918 (1995), 0.639 (1994); CR$
per US$1--390.845 (January 1994)
note: the real (R$) was introduced on 1 July 1994, equal to 2,750
cruzeiro reais; from October 1994 through 14 January 1999, the
official rate was determined by a managed float; since 15 January
1999, the official rate floats independently with respect to the US$

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Telephones: 14,426,673 (1992 est.)

Telephone system: good working system
domestic: extensive microwave radio relay system and a domestic
satellite system with 64 earth stations
international: 3 coaxial submarine cables; satellite earth
stations--3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean
Region East)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 1,627, FM 251, shortwave 114 (of
which 91 are associated with AM stations) (1998)

Radios: 60 million (1993 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 138 (1997)

Televisions: 30 million (1993 est.)

Transportation

Railways:
total: 28,862 km (1,187 km electrified)
broad gauge: 4,123 km 1.600-m gauge
narrow gauge: 24,390 km 1.000-m gauge; 13 km 0.760-m gauge
dual gauge: 336 km 1.000-m and 1.600-m gauges (three rails)

Highways:
total: 1.98 million km
paved: 184,140 km
unpaved: 1,795,860 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 50,000 km navigable

Pipelines: crude oil 2,980 km; petroleum products 4,762 km;
natural gas 4,246 km (1998)

Ports and harbors: Belem, Fortaleza, Ilheus, Imbituba, Manaus,
Paranagua, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande,
Salvador, Santos, Vitoria

Merchant marine:
total: 179 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,132,037
GRT/6,642,442 DWT