Economy (Colombia)
==================


     Overview:
         Economic development has slowed gradually since 1986, but growth rates
         remain high by Latin American standards. Conservative economic policies have
         kept inflation and unemployment near 30% and 10%, respectively. The rapid
         development of oil, coal, and other nontraditional industries over the past
         four years has helped to offset the decline in coffee prices - Colombia's
         major export. The collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in the
         summer of 1989, a troublesome rural insurgency, and drug-related violence
         have dampened growth, but significant economic reforms are likely to
         facilitate a resurgent economy in the medium term. These reforms center on
         fiscal restraint, trade liberalization, and privatization of state utilities
         and commercial banks.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $45 billion, per capita $1,300; real growth rate
         3.7% (1990 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         26.8% (1991)
     Unemployment rate:
         10.5% (1991)
     Budget:
         revenues $4.39 billion; current expenditures $3.93 billion, capital
         expenditures $1.03 billion (1989 est.)
     Exports:
         $7.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
       commodities:
         petroleum (19%), coffee, coal, bananas, fresh cut flowers
       partners:
         US 40%, EC 21%, Japan 5%, Netherlands 4%, Sweden 3%
     Imports:
         $6.1 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
       commodities:
         industrial equipment, transportation equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, paper
         products
       partners:
         US 36%, EC 16%, Brazil 4%, Venezuela 3%, Japan 3%
     External debt:
         $17.0 billion (1991)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 1% (1991 est.); accounts for 21% of GDP
     Electricity:
         9,624,000 kW capacity; 38,856 million kWh produced, 1,150 kWh per capita
         (1991)
     Industries:
         textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals,
         metal products, cement; mining - gold, coal, emeralds, iron, nickel, silver,
         salt
     Agriculture:
         growth rate 3% (1991 est.) accounts for 22% of GDP; crops make up two-thirds
         and livestock one-third of agricultural output; climate and soils permit a
         wide variety of crops, such as coffee, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa
         beans, oilseeds, vegetables; forest products and shrimp farming are becoming
         more important
     Illicit drugs:
         illicit producer of cannabis, coca, and opium; about 37,500 hectares of coca
         under cultivation; major supplier of cocaine to the US and other
         international drug markets




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