veness. Although the Swiss are not
pursuing EU membership in the near term, in 1999 Bern and Brussels
signed agreements to further liberalize trade ties. These agreements
still have to pass a Swiss referendum in spring 2000, however.
Switzerland is still considered a safe haven for investors, because it
has maintained a degree of bank secrecy and has kept up the franc's
long-term external value.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $197 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.4% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $27,100 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.8%
industry: 31.1%
services: 66.1% (1995)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 28.6% (1982)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 3.8 million (956,000 foreign workers, mostly Italian)
(1996 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: services 67%, industry 28%, agriculture
and forestry 5% (1996 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2.8% (1999 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $32.66 billion
expenditures: $34.89 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.3
billion (1998 est.)

Industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision
instruments

Industrial production growth rate: 3.3% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 61.076 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 3.74%
hydro: 54.29%
nuclear: 40.18%
other: 1.79% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 50.8 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 29.6 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 23.6 billion kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs

Exports: $98.5 billion (f.o.b., 1999)

Exports - commodities: machinery, chemicals, metals, watches,
agricultural products

Exports - partners: EU 62% (Germany 24%, France 10%, Italy 8%, UK 6%,
Austria 3%), US 10%, Japan 4% (1998)

Imports: $99 billion (f.o.b., 1999)

Imports - commodities: machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals;
agricultural products, textiles

Imports - partners: EU 80% (Germany 33%, France 12%, Italy 10%,
Netherlands 5%, UK 5%), US 6%, Japan 3% (1998)

Debt - external: $NA

Economic aid - donor: ODA, $1.1 billion (1995)

Currency: 1 Swiss franc, franken, or franco (SFR) = 100 centimes,
rappen, or centesimi

Exchange rates: Swiss francs, franken, or franchi (SFR) per US$1 -
1.5878 (January 2000), 1.5022 (1999), 1.4