one of the riskiest in the world -
is proceeding slowly, raising concerns that the country will be unable
to tap sufficient domestic savings to finance growth. Administrative
and legal barriers are also causing costly delays for foreign
investors and are raising similar doubts about Vietnam's ability to
attract additional foreign capital.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $143.1 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.8% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,850 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 26%
industry: 33%
services: 41% (1998 est.)

Population below poverty line: 37% (1998 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 29% (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 38.2 million (1998 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 67%, industry and services
33% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate: 25% (1995 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $5.6 billion
expenditures: $6 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.7
billion (1996 est.)

Industries: food processing, garments, shoes, machine building,
mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, coal, steel,
paper

Industrial production growth rate: 10.3% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 20.62 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 12.95%
hydro: 87.05%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 19.177 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: paddy rice, corn, potatoes, rubber, soybeans,
coffee, tea, bananas; poultry, pigs; fish

Exports: $11.5 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee,
rubber, tea, garments, shoes

Exports - partners: Japan, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
France, South Korea, US, China

Imports: $11.6 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, petroleum products,
fertilizer, steel products, raw cotton, grain, cement, motorcycles

Imports - partners: Singapore, South Korea, Japan, France, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Thailand, Sweden

Debt - external: $7.3 billion Western countries; $4.5 billion CEMA
debts primarily to Russia; $9 billion to $18 billion nonconvertible
debt (former CEMA, Iraq, Iran)

Economic aid - recipient: $2 billion in credits and grants pledged by
international do