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<text id=93CT0689>
<title>
Italy--Economy
</title>
<article><source>CIA Factbook</source><hdr>The World Factbook 1993: Italy
Economy</hdr><body>
<p>Overview: Since World War II the economy has changed from one based
on agriculture into a ranking industrial economy, with approximately
the same total and per capita output as France and the UK. The
country is still divided into a developed industrial north, dominated
by private companies, and an undeveloped agricultural south,
dominated by large public enterprises. Services account for 48% of
GDP, industry 35%, agriculture 4%, and public administration 13%.
Most raw materials needed by industry and over 75% of energy
requirements must be imported. After growing at an annual average
rate of 3% in 1983-90, growth slowed to about 1% in 1991 and 1992. In
the second half of 1992, Rome became unsettled by the prospect of not
qualifying to participate in EC plans for economic and monetary union
later in the decade; thus it finally began to address its huge fiscal
imbalances. Thanks to the determination of Prime Minister AMATO, the
government adopted a fairly stringent budget for 1993, abandoned its
highly inflationary wage indexation system, and started to scale back
its extremely generous social welfare programs, including pension and
health care benefits. Monetary officials, who were forced to withdraw
the lira from the European monetary system in September 1992 when it
came under extreme pressure in currency markets, remain committed to
bringing the currency back into the grid as soon as conditions
warrant. For the 1990s, Italy faces the problems of refurbishing a
tottering communications system, curbing pollution in major
industrial centers, and adjusting to the new competitive forces
accompanying the ongoing economic integration of the European
Community.
</p>
<p>National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $1.012
trillion (1992)
</p>
<p>National product real growth rate: 0.9% (1992)
</p>
<p>National product per capita: $17,500 (1992)
</p>
<p>Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.4% (1992)
</p>
<p>Unemployment rate: 11% (1992 est.)
</p>
<p>Budget: revenues $447 billion; expenditures $581 billion, including
capital expenditures of $46 billion (1992 est.)
</p>
<list>
<l>Exports: $168.8 million (f.o.b., 1991)</l>
<l> commodities: textiles, wearing apparel, metals, production
machinery, motor vehicles, transportation equipment, chemicals,
other</l>
<l> partners: EC 58.3%, US 6.8%, OPEC 5.1% (1992)</l>
<l>Imports: $169.7 million (f.o.b., 1991)</l>
<l> commodities: petroleum, industrial machinery, chemicals, metals,
food, agricultural products</l>
<l> partners: EC 58.8%, OPEC 6.1%, US 5.5% (1992)</l>
</list>
<p>External debt: $42 billion (September 1992)
</p>
<p>Industrial production: growth rate -0.5% (1992 est.); accounts for
almost 35% of GDP
</p>
<p>Electricity: 58,000,000 kW capacity; 235,000 million kWh produced,
4,060 kWh per capita (1992)
</p>
<p>Industries: machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing,
textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics
</p>
<p>Agriculture: accounts for about 4% of GDP and about 10% of the work
force; self-sufficient in foods other than meat, dairy products, and
cereals; principal crops - fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes,
sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; fish catch of 525,000 metric
tons in 1990
</p>
<p>Illicit drugs: increasingly important gateway country for Latin
American cocaine entering the European market
</p>
<p>Economic aid: donor - ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $25.9
billion
</p>
<p>Currency: 1 Italian lira (Lit)=100 centesimi
</p>
<p>Exchange rates: Italian lire (Lit) per US$1 - 1,482.5 (January
1993), 1,232.4 (1992), 1,240.6 (1991), 1,198.1 (1990), 1,372.1
(1989), 1,301.6 (1988)
</p>
<p>Fiscal year: calendar year
</p></body></article></text>