purchasing power parity-$4.9 billion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 2.8% (1997 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$12,900 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 5%
industry: 34%
services: 61% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 2.3% (1996)

Labor force:
total: 148,085 (September 1996)
by occupation: public services 34%, other services 32%, manufacturing
and construction 22%, agriculture 2% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 3.7% (September 1996)

Budget:
revenues: $1.3 billion
expenditures: $1.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $219
million (1997 est.)

Industries: tourism; electronics, ship building and repair,
construction; food and beverages, textiles, footwear, clothing,
tobacco

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity-capacity: 250,000 kW (1994)

Electricity-production: 1.45 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 3,923 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: potatoes, cauliflower, grapes, wheat, barley,
tomatoes, citrus, cut flowers, green peppers; pork, milk, poultry,
eggs

Exports:
total value: $1.7 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment, clothing and footware,
printed matter
partners: Italy 32%, Germany 16%, UK 8%

Imports:
total value: $2.8 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: food, petroleum, machinery and semimanufactured goods
partners: Italy 27%, Germany 14%, UK 13%, US 9%

Debt-external: $134 million (1996)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 Maltese lira (LM) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Maltese liri (LM) per US$1-0.3960 (January 1998),
0.3857 (1997), 0.3604 (1996), 0.3529 (1995), 0.3776 (1994), 0.3821
(1993)

Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March

Communications

Telephones: 191,876 (1992 est.)

Telephone system: automatic system satisfies normal requirements
domestic: submarine cable and microwave radio relay between islands
international: 2 submarine cables; satellite earth station-1 Intelsat
(Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 4, shortwave 0

Radios: 189,000 (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 4 (1996 est.)

Televisions: 300,000 (1996 est.)

@Malta:Transportation

Railways: 0 km

Highways:
total: 1,582 km
paved: 1,471 km
unpaved: 111 km (1993 est.)

Ports and harbors: Marsaxlokk, Valletta

Merchant marine:
total: 1,287 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 22,396,164
GRT/37,390,720 DWT
ships by type: bulk 350, cargo 404,