autonomous cooperative units in an attempt to
increase worker incentives and boost depressed food production levels.
Fuel shortages persisted throughout 1993; draft animals and bicycles
continued to replace motor-driven vehicles, and the use of electricity
by households and factories was cut from already low levels. With the
help of foreign investment, tourism has been one bright spot in the
economy, with arrivals and earnings reaching record highs in 1993.
Government officials have expressed guarded optimism for 1994, as the
country struggles to achieve sustainable economic growth at a
much-reduced standard of living.
National product:
GNP - purchasing power equivalent - $13.7 billion (1993 est.)
National product real growth rate:
-10% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$1,250 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
NA%
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$12.46 billion
expenditures:
$14.45 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990 est.)
Exports:
$1.5 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities:
sugar, nickel, shellfish, tobacco, medical products, citrus, coffee
partners:
Russia 28%, Canada 9%, China 5%, Ukraine 5%, Japan 4%, Spain 4% (1993
est.)
Imports:
$1.7 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities:
petroleum, food, machinery, chemicals
partners:
Venezuela 20%, China 9%, Spain 9%, Mexico 7%, Italy 4%, Canada 7%,
France 8% (1993 est.)
External debt:
$6.8 billion (convertible currency, July 1989)
Industrial production:
growth rate NA%
Electricity:
capacity:
3,889,000 kW
production:
16.248 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
1,500 kWh (1992)
Industries:
sugar milling and refining, petroleum refining, food and tobacco
processing, textiles, chemicals, paper and wood products, metals
(particularly nickel), cement, fertilizers, consumer goods,
agricultural machinery
Agriculture:
accounts for 11% of GNP (including fishing and forestry); key
commercial crops - sugarcane, tobacco, and citrus fruits; other
products - coffee, rice, potatoes, meat, beans; world's largest sugar
exporter; not self-sufficient in food (excluding sugar); sector hurt
by growing shortages of fuels and parts
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for cocaine bound for the US
Economic aid:
recipient:
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-89), $710 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $18.5 billi