and an 8% drop in
GDP. The new government, installed in July 1997, has taken strong
measures to restore public order and to revive economic activity and
trade. The economy continues to be bolstered by remittances of some
20% of the labor force that works abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy.
These remittances supplement GDP and help offset the large foreign
trade deficit. Most agricultural land was privatized in 1992,
substantially improving peasant incomes. In 1998, Albania recovered
the 8% drop in GDP of 1997 and pushed ahead by 7% in 1999.
International aid has helped defray the high costs of receiving and
returning refugees from the Kosovo conflict.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $5.6 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 8% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,650 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 54%
industry: 25%
services: 21% (1998)

Population below poverty line: 19.6% (1996 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0.5% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 1.692 million (including 352,000 emigrant workers and
261,000 domestically unemployed) (1994 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 49.5%, industry and services
50.5%

Unemployment rate: 14% (October 1997) officially, but may be as high
as 28%

Budget:
revenues: $393 million
expenditures: $676 million, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1997 est.)

Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing; lumber, oil,
cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

Industrial production growth rate: 7% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 5.15 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 2.91%
hydro: 97.09%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 5.29 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 500 million kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruits,
sugar beets, grapes; meat, dairy products

Exports: $242 million (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: textiles and footwear; asphalt, metals and
metallic ores, crude oil; vegetables, fruits, tobacco

Exports - partners: Italy 63%, Greece 12%, Germany 6%, Netherlands,
Belgium, US (1998)

Imports: $925 million (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, textiles,
chemicals

Imports