.1% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$5,000 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Population below poverty line: 53% (1996 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 24% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 15.4 million
note: shortage of skilled labor

Labor force--by occupation: agriculture 33%, manufacturing 21%
(1988 est.)

Unemployment rate: more than 30% (January 1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $34.6 billion
expenditures: $34.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $11.8
billion (FY96/97)

Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other
construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining
and vegetable oil production), metal fabricating, armaments

Industrial production growth rate: 5.7% (FY95/96 est.)

Electricity--production: 79.5 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 90.57%
hydro: 9.43%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)

Electricity--consumption: 79.5 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 0 kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 0 kWh (1996)

Agriculture--products: wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets,
fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool; caviar

Exports: $12.2 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Exports--commodities: petroleum 80%, carpets, fruits, nuts, hides,
iron, steel

Exports--partners: Japan, Italy, Greece, France, Spain, South Korea

Imports: $13.8 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Imports--commodities: machinery, military supplies, metal works,
foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, technical services, refined oil products

Imports--partners: Germany, Italy, Japan, UAE, UK, Belgium

Debt--external: $21.9 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid--recipient: $116.5 million (1995)

Currency: 10 Iranian rials (IR) = 1 toman; note--domestic figures
are generally referred to in terms of the toman

Exchange rates: Iranian rials (IR) per US$1--1,754.63 (January
1999), 1,751.86 (1998), 1,752.92 (1997), 1,750.76 (1996), 1,747.93
(1995), 1,748.75 (1994); black market rate: 7,000 rials per US$1
(December 1998); note--as of May 1995, the "official rate" of 1,750
rials per US$1 is used for imports of essential goods and services
and for oil exports, whereas the "official export rate" of 3,000
rials per US$1 is used for non-oil exports and im