yment rate: 15% (1999 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $4.69 billion
expenditures: $5.06 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1999 est.)

Industries: machine building and metal working, food processing,
chemicals, construction materials, ferrous and nonferrous metals,
nuclear fuel

Industrial production growth rate: -3% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 38.423 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 52.34%
hydro: 7.35%
nuclear: 40.31%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 35.493 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 2 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 1.76 billion kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock, wine,
wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets

Exports: $3.8 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment; metals, minerals, and
fuels; chemicals and plastics; food, tobacco, clothing (1998)

Exports - partners: Italy 13%, Germany 10%, Greece 9%, Turkey 8%,
Russia (1998)

Imports: $5.3 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: fuels, minerals, and raw materials; machinery
and equipment; metals and ores; chemicals and plastics; food, textiles
(1998)

Imports - partners: Russia 20%, Germany 14%, Italy 8%, Greece 6%, US
4% (1998)

Debt - external: $10 billion (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $NA

Currency: 1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki

Exchange rates: leva (Lv) per US$1 - 1.9295 (January 2000), 1.8364
(1999), 1,760.36 (1998), 1,681.88 (1997), 177.89 (1996), 67.17 (1995)
note: on 5 July 1999 the lev was re-denominated; the post-5 July 1999
lev is equal to 1,000 of the pre-5 July 1999 leva

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Bulgaria:Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 3.186 million (1999)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 300,000 (1999)

Telephone system: more than two-thirds of the lines are residential
domestic: extensive but antiquated transmission system of coaxial
cable and microwave radio relay; telephone service is available in
most villages; a more modern digital cable trunk line now connects
switching centers in most of the regions, the others being connected
by digital microwave
international: direct dialing to 58 countries; satellite earth
stations - 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region); 2 Intelsat
(Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 24, FM 93, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 4.51 million (1997)

Television