s. President
FREI, who took office in March 1994, has placed improving Chile's
education system and developing foreign export markets at the top of
his economic agenda. The Chilean economy remains largely dependent
on a few sectors--particularly copper mining, fishing, and forestry.
Success in meeting the government's goal of sustained annual
economic growth of 5% depends largely on world prices for these
commodities, continued foreign investor confidence, and the
government's ability to maintain a conservative fiscal stance. In
1996, Chile became an associate member of Mercosur and concluded a
free trade agreement with Canada.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$184.6 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: 3.5% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$12,500 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 6%
industry: 33%
services: 61% (1997)

Population below poverty line: 20.5% (1994 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.4%
highest 10%: 46.1% (1994)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.7% (1998)

Labor force: 5.8 million (1998 est.)

Labor force--by occupation: services 38.3% (includes government
12%), industry and commerce 33.8%, agriculture, forestry, and
fishing 19.2%, mining 2.3%, construction 6.4% (1990)

Unemployment rate: 6.4% (1998)

Budget:
revenues: $17 billion
expenditures: $17 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1996 est.)

Industries: copper, other minerals, foodstuffs, fish processing,
iron and steel, wood and wood products, transport equipment, cement,
textiles

Industrial production growth rate: -1.1% (1998)

Electricity--production: 35.81 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 41.89%
hydro: 58.11%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)

Electricity--consumption: 35.81 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 0 kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 0 kWh (1996)

Agriculture--products: wheat, corn, grapes, beans, sugar beets,
potatoes, fruit; beef, poultry, wool; timber; fish

Exports: $14.9 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports--commodities: copper 37%, other metals and minerals 8.2%,
wood products 7.1%, fish and fishmeal 9.8%, fruits 8.4% (1994)

Exports--partners: EU 25%, US 15%, Asia 34%, Latin America 20%
(1995 est.)

Imports: $17.5 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Imports--commodities: capital goods 25.2%, spare parts 24.8%, raw