rated by only two commodities, rice and crude oil.
Led by industry and construction, the economy did well in 1993 and
1994 with output rising 7% and 9% respectively. However, the
industrial sector remains burdened by noncompetitive state-owned
enterprises the government is unwilling or unable to privatize.
Unemployment looms as a serious problem with roughly 20% of the work
force without jobs and with population growth swelling the ranks of
the labor force yearly.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $83.5 billion (1994
est.)

National product real growth rate: 8.8% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $1,140 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 14.4% (1994)

Unemployment rate: 20% (1994 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.6 billion
expenditures: $4.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1994 est.)

Exports: $3.6 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: petroleum, rice, agricultural products, marine products,
coffee
partners: Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, South Korea

Imports: $4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: petroleum products, machinery and equipment, steel
products, fertilizer, raw cotton, grain
partners: Singapore, Japan, South Korea, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan

External debt: $4 billion Western countries; $4.5 billion CEMA debts
primarily to Russia;

Industrial production: growth rate 13% (1994 est.); accounts for 21%
of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 2,200,000 kW
production: 9.7 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 125 kWh (1993)

Industries: food processing, textiles, machine building, mining,
cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil

Agriculture: accounts for 36% of GDP; paddy rice, corn, potatoes make
up 50% of farm output; commercial crops (rubber, soybeans, coffee,
tea, bananas) and animal products 50%; since 1989 self-sufficient in
food staple rice; fish catch of 943,100 metric tons (1989 est.); note
- the third largest exporter of rice in the World, behind the US and
Thailand

Illicit drugs: opium producer and increasingly important transit point
for Southeast Asian heroin destined for the US and Europe; growing
opium addiction; small-scale heroin producer

Economic aid:
recipient: $2 billion in credits and grants pledged by international
donors for 1995, Japan largest contributor with $650 million pledged
for 1995

Currency: 1 new dong (D) = 100 xu

Exchange rates: new dong (