Part 317

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.1% (1995)

Labor force: 268,000 by occupation: industry and commerce 44.5%, agriculture 33.8%, services 21.7% note: public-sector employment amounts to 60%-80% of the total labor force (1985)

Unemployment rate: 12% (1992 est.)

Budget: revenues: $209 million expenditures: $303 million, including capital expenditures of $109 million (1995 est.)

Industries: bauxite, sugar, rice milling, timber, fishing (shrimp), textiles, gold mining

Industrial production growth rate: 5.6% (1994 est.)

Electricity: capacity: 110,000 kW production: 230 million kWh consumption per capita: 286 kWh (1993)

Agriculture: sugar, rice, wheat, vegetable oils; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; development potential exists for fishing and forestry

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for narcotics from South America - primarily Venezuela - to the US and Europe; producer of cannabis

Exports: $453 million (f.o.b., 1994) commodities: sugar, bauxite/alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses partners: UK 33%, US 31%, Canada 9%, France 5%, Japan 3% (1992)

Imports: $456 million (c.i.f., 1994 est.) commodities: manufactures, machinery, petroleum, food partners: US 37%, Trinidad and Tobago 13%, UK 11%, Italy 8%, Japan 5% (1992)

External debt: $2.2 billion (1994 est.)

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 Guyanese dollar (G$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Guyanese dollars (G$) per US$1 - 140.3 (January 1996), 142.0 (1995), 138.3 (1994), 126.7 (1993), 125.0 (1992), 111.8 (1991)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation --------------

Railways: total: 88 km standard gauge: 40 km 1.435-m gauge (dedicated to ore transport) narrow gauge: 48 km 0.914-m gauge (dedicated to ore transport)

Highways: total: 7,621 km paved: 547 km unpaved: 7,074 km (1987 est.)

Waterways: 6,000 km total of navigable waterways; Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo Rivers are navigable by oceangoing vessels for 150 km, 100 km, and 80 km, respectively

Ports: Bartica, Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam, Parika

Merchant marine: total: 1 cargo ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,317 GRT/2,558 DWT (1995 est.)

Airports: total: 47 with paved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 3 with paved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 1 with paved runways under 914 m: 32 with unpaved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 2 with unpaved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 9 (1995 est.)

Communications --------------

Telephones: 33,000 (1987 est.)

Telephone system: fair system for long-distance calling domestic: microwave radio relay network for trunk lines international: tropospheric scatter to Trinidad; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 4, FM 3, shortwave 1

Radios: 398,000 (1992 est.)