ion rate (consumer prices): 2.2% monthly average (first half
1995 est.)

Labor force: 2.763 million
by occupation: industry and construction 31%, agriculture and
forestry 25%, other 44% (1990)

Unemployment rate: officially less than 5% but real unemployment
may be more than 20%, with even larger numbers of underemployed
workers

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries: steel, aircraft, machine tools, foundry equipment,
electric locomotives, tower cranes, electric welding equipment,
machinery for food preparation and meat packing, electric motors,
process control equipment, trucks, tractors, textiles, shoes,
chemicals, wood products, wine

Industrial production growth rate: -10% (1995)

Electricity:
capacity: 4,410,000 kW
production: 9.1 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 1,526 kWh (1993)

Agriculture: citrus, grapes, tea, vegetables, potatoes; small
livestock sector

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of cannabis and opium poppy;
mostly for domestic consumption; used as transshipment point for
illicit drugs to Western Europe

Exports: $140 million (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities: citrus fruits, tea, wine, other agricultural products;
diverse types of machinery; ferrous and nonferrous metals; textiles;
chemicals; fuel re-exports
partners: Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan

Imports: $250 million (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: fuel, grain and other foods, machinery and parts,
transport equipment
partners: Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey; note - EU and US send
humanitarian food shipments

External debt: $1.2 billion (of which $135 million to Russia)
(1995 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $28 million (1993)
note: commitments, 1992-95, $1,200 million ($675 million
disbursements)

Currency: lari introduced September 1995 replacing the coupon

Exchange rates: laris per US$1 - 1.24 (end December 1995)

Fiscal year: calendar year

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

Railways:
total: 1,570 km in common carrier service; does not include
industrial lines
broad gauge: 1,570 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways:
total: 35,100 km
paved: 31,200 km
unpaved: 3,900 km (1990 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 370 km; refined products 300 km; natural gas
440 km (1992)

Ports: Bat'umi, P'ot'i, Sokhumi

Merchant marine:
total: 23 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 307,765 GRT/483,567 DWT
sh