opulation below poverty line: 21.8% (1991 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.7%
highest 10%: 46.6% (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 14.6% (1998)

Labor force: 1.8 million (1995 est.)

Labor force--by occupation: agriculture 45%

Unemployment rate: 8.2% (urban) (1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.25 billion
expenditures: $1.66 billion, including capital expenditures of $357
million (1995 est.)

Industries: meat packing, oilseed crushing, milling, brewing,
textiles, other light consumer goods, cement, construction

Industrial production growth rate: 5.1% (1995)

Electricity--production: 45.03 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 0.07%
hydro: 99.93%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)

Electricity--consumption: 4.768 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 40.262 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 0 kWh (1996)

Agriculture--products: cotton, sugarcane, soybeans, corn, wheat,
tobacco, cassava (tapioca), fruits, vegetables; beef, pork, eggs,
milk; timber

Exports: $1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1997 est.)

Exports--commodities: cotton, soybeans, timber, vegetable oils,
meat products, coffee, tung oil

Exports--partners: Brazil 48%, Netherlands 22%, Argentina 9%, US
4%, Uruguay 3%, Chile 2% (1997)

Imports: $2.5 billion (c.i.f., 1996 est.)

Imports--commodities: capital goods, consumer goods, foodstuffs,
raw materials, fuels

Imports--partners: Brazil 29%, US 22%, Argentina 14%, Hong Kong 9%
(1995)

Debt--external: $1.3 billion (1996)

Economic aid--recipient: $180.4 million (1995)

Currency: 1 guarani (G) = 100 centimos

Exchange rates: guaranies (G) per US$--2,866.3 (January 1999),
2,755.7 (1998), 2,191.0 (1997), 2,062.8 (1996), 1,970.4 (1995),
1,911.5 (1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Telephones: 88,730 (1985 est.)

Telephone system: meager telephone service; principal switching
center is Asuncion
domestic: fair microwave radio relay network
international: satellite earth station--1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 40, FM 0, shortwave 7

Radios: 775,000 (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 10 (1997)

Televisions: 370,000 (1992 est.)

Transportation

Railways:
total: 971 km
standard gauge: 441 km 1.435-m gauge
narrow gauge: 60 km 1.000-m gauge
note: there are 470 km of various gauges that