e petroleum sector accounts for
roughly 75% of budget revenues, 35% of GDP, and almost all export
earnings. Saudi Arabia has the largest reserves of petroleum in the
world (26% of the proved total), ranks as the largest exporter of
petroleum, and plays a leading role in OPEC. For the 1990s the
government intends to bring its budget, which has been in deficit
since 1983, back into balance, and to encourage private economic
activity. Roughly four million foreign workers play an important role
in the Saudi economy, for example, in the oil and banking sectors. For
about a decade, Saudi Arabia's domestic and international outlays have
outstripped its income, and the government has cut its foreign
assistance and is beginning to rein in domestic programs. For 1995,
the country looks for improvement in oil prices and will continue its
policies of restraining public spending and encouraging non-oil
exports.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $173.1 billion (1994
est.)

National product real growth rate: -3% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $9,510 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 6.5% (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $39 billion
expenditures: $50 billion, including capital expenditures of $7.5
billion (1993 est.)

Exports: $39.4 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 92%
partners: US 20%, Japan 18%, Singapore 5%, France 5%, South Korea 5%
(1992)

Imports: $28.9 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, motor
vehicles, textiles
partners: US 21%, Japan 14%, UK 11%, Germany 8%, Italy 6%, France 5%
(1992)

External debt: $18.9 billion (December 1989 est., includes short-term
trade credits)

Industrial production: growth rate 20% (1991 est.); accounts for 35%
of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity:
capacity: 17,550,000 kW
production: 46 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,430 kWh (1993)

Industries: crude oil production, petroleum refining, basic
petrochemicals, cement, two small steel-rolling mills, construction,
fertilizer, plastics

Agriculture: accounts for about 10% of GDP, 16% of labor force;
subsidized by government; products - wheat, barley, tomatoes, melons,
dates, citrus fruit, mutton, chickens, eggs, milk; approaching
self-sufficiency in food

Illicit drugs: death penalty for traffickers; increa