Economy (Ireland)
=================


     Overview:
         The economy is small, open, and trade dependent. Agriculture, once the most
         important sector, is now dwarfed by industry, which accounts for 37% of GDP
         and about 80% of exports and employs 26% of the labor force. The government
         has successfully reduced the rate of inflation from double-digit figures in
         the late 1970s to 3.8% in 1991. In 1987, after years of deficits, the
         balance of payments was brought into the black. Unemployment, however,
         remains a serious problem. A 1991 unemployment rate of 20.4% placed Ireland
         along with Spain as the countries with the worst jobless records in Western
         Europe.
     GDP:
         purchasing power equivalent - $39.2 billion, per capita $11,200; real growth
         rate 1.3% (1991 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         3.8% (1991)
     Unemployment rate:
         20.4% (1991)
     Budget:
         revenues $11.4 billion; expenditures $12.6 billion, including capital
         expenditures of $1.6 billion (1992 est.)
     Exports:
         $27.8 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
       commodities:
         chemicals, data processing equipment, industrial machinery, live animals,
         animal products
       partners:
         EC 74% (UK 34%, Germany 11%, France 10%), US 8%
     Imports:
         $24.5 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
       commodities:
         food, animal feed, chemicals, petroleum and petroleum products, machinery,
         textiles, clothing
       partners:
         EC 66% (UK 41%, Germany 9%, France 4%), US 14%
     External debt:
         $14.8 billion (1990)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 3.0% (1991); accounts for 37% of GDP
     Electricity:
         4,957,000 kW capacity; 14,480 million kWh produced, 4,080 kWh per capita
         (1991)
     Industries:
         food products, brewing, textiles, clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
         machinery, transportation equipment, glass and crystal
     Agriculture:
         accounts for 11% of GDP and 15% of the labor force; principal crops -
         turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat; livestock - meat and dairy
         products; 85% self-sufficient in food; food shortages include bread grain,
         fruits, vegetables
     Economic aid:
         donor - ODA commitments (1980-89), $90 million
     Currency:
         Irish pound (plural - pounds); 1 Irish pound (#Ir) = 100 pence
     Exchange rates:
         Irish pounds (#Ir) per US$1 - 0.6227 (March 1992), 0.6190 (1991), 0.6030
         (1990), 0.7472 (1989), 0.6553 (1988), 0.6720 (1987)
     Fiscal year:
         calendar year