share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.3% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 4.7 million (1998 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 40%, industry 20%, services
40% (1996 est.)

Unemployment rate: 12%-15% (1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.5 billion
expenditures: $4.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1997 est.)

Industries: petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco,
phosphate rock mining

Industrial production growth rate: 0.2% (1996 est.)

Electricity - production: 17.5 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 42.86%
hydro: 57.14%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 16.275 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas,
olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk

Exports: $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: petroleum 65%, textiles 10%, manufactured goods
10%, fruits and vegetables 7%, raw cotton 5%, live sheep 2%,
phosphates 1% (1998 est.)

Exports - partners: Germany 14%, Turkey 13%, Italy 12%, France 9%,
Lebanon 9%, Spain (1998 est.)

Imports: $3.2 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment 23%, foodstuffs/animals
20%, metal and metal products 15%, textiles 10%, chemicals 10% (1998
est.)

Imports - partners: Ukraine 16%, Italy 6%, Germany 6%, Turkey 5%,
France 4%, South Korea, Japan, US (1998 est.)

Debt - external: $22 billion (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $199 million (1997 est.)

Currency: 1 Syrian pound = 100 piastres

Exchange rates: Syrian pounds per US$1 - 46 (1998), 41.9 (January
1997); official fixed rate - 11.225 Syrian pounds per US$1

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Syria:Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 930,000 (1995)

Telephones - mobile cellular: NA

Telephone system: fair system currently undergoing significant
improvement and digital upgrades, including fiber-optic technology
domestic: coaxial cable and microwave radio relay network
international: satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)
and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region); 1 submarine cable; coaxial
cable and microwave radio relay to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey;
participant in Medarabtel

Radio broadcast stations: AM 14, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios: 4.15 million