Part 258

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with the national coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms features a round emblem encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA CENTRAL; similar to the flag of Nicaragua, which has a different coat of arms centered in the white band - it features a triangle encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on top and AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom; also similar to the flag of Honduras, which has five blue stars arranged in an X pattern centered in the white band

Economy

Economy - overview: El Salvador possesses a fast-growing entrepreneurial economy in which 90% of economic activity is in private hands, with growth averaging 5% since 1990. Yet, because the 1980s were a decade of civil war and stagnation, per capita GDP has not regained the level of the late 1970s. The rebound in the 1990s stems from the government program, in conjunction with the IMF, of privatization, deregulation, and fiscal stabilization. The economy now is oriented more toward manufacturing and services compared with agriculture. The sizable trade deficits are in the main covered by remittances from the large number of Salvadorans abroad.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $12.2 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,080 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 14% industry : 27% services: 59% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 7.4% (1996)

Labor force: total: 2.2 million (1996 est.) by occupation: agriculture 40%, commerce 16%, manufacturing 15%, government 13%, financial services 9%, transportation 6%, other 1%

Unemployment rate: 7.6% (1996 est.)

Budget: revenues : $1.75 billion expenditures: $1.82 billion, including capital expenditures of $317 million (1997 est.)

Industries: food processing, beverages, petroleum, chemicals, fertilizer, textiles, furniture, light metals

Industrial production growth rate: 7.6% (1993)

Electricity - capacity: 900,000 kW (1996)

Electricity - production: 3.32 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 580 kWh (1996 est.)

Agriculture - products: coffee, sugarcane, corn, rice, beans, oilseed, cotton, sorghum; beef, dairy products; shrimp

Exports: total value: $1.8 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: coffee, sugarcane; shrimp; textiles, chemicals partners: US, Guatemala, Germany, Costa Rica, Honduras

Imports: total value: $3.2 billion (c.i.f., 1996) commodities : raw materials, consumer goods, capital goods partners: US, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Japan

Debt - external: $2.54 billion (yearend 1996)

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $763 million (1996) note: US has committed $250 million in aid to El Salvador for 1992-96

Currency: 1 Salvadoran colon (C) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: Salvadoran colones (C) per US$1 (end of period) - 8.755 (January 1997), 8.755 (1996), 8.755 (1995), 8.750 (1994), 8.670 (1993), 9.170 (1992), 8.080 (1991) note: as of 1 June 1990, the rate is based on the average of the buying and selling rates, set on a weekly basis, for official receipts and payments, imports of petroleum, and coffee exports; prior to that date, a system of floating was in effect

Fiscal year: calendar year

@El Salvador:Communications

Telephones: 300,000 (1996 est.)

Telephone system: domestic: nationwide microwave radio relay system international : satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to Central American Microwave System

Radio broadcast stations: AM 18, FM 80, shortwave 2