Nicaragua Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
Nicaragua, one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, faces low per capita income, massive unemployment, and huge external debt. Distribution of income is one of the most unequal on the globe. While the country has made progress toward macroeconomic stability over the past few years, GDP annual growth has been far too low to meet the country's needs. As a result of successful performance under its International Monetary Fund policy program and other efforts, Nicaragua qualified in early 2004 for some $4 billion in foreign debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Even after this reduction, however, the government continues to bear a significant foreign and domestic debt burden. If ratified, the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) will provide an opportunity for Nicaragua to attract investment, create jobs, and deepen economic development. While President BOLANOS enjoys the support of the international financial bodies, his internal political base is meager.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $12.34 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $2,300 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 20.7%
industry: 24.7%
services: 54.6% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
1.93 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 30.5%, industry 17.3%, services 52.2% (2003 est.)

Unemployment rate:
7.8% plus underemployment of 46.5% (2003 est.)

Population below poverty line:
50% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.2%
highest 10%: 45% (2001)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
55.1 (2001)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9.3% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
28% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $725.5 million
expenditures: $1.039 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Public debt:
69.5% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products:
coffee, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products

Industries:
food processing, chemicals, machinery and metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear, wood

Industrial production growth rate:
4.4% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:
2.553 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
2.318 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
6.8 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
15.3 million kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - consumption:
25,770 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - exports:
738 bbl/day (2003)

Oil - imports:
27,950 bbl/day (2003)

Current account balance:
$-843.1 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$750 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, tobacco, sugar, gold, peanuts

Exports - partners:
US 63.5%, El Salvador 9%, Costa Rica 4.2% (2004)

Imports:
$2.02 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
consumer goods, machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum products

Imports - partners:
US 26.3%, Venezuela 9.6%, Costa Rica 7.5%, Mexico 7.1%, Guatemala 6.1%, El Salvador 4.1% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$670 million (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$4.573 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$541.8 million (2003)

Currency (code):
gold cordoba (NIO)

Exchange rates:
gold cordobas per US dollar - 15.937 (2004), 15.105 (2003), 14.251 (2002), 13.372 (2001), 12.684 (2000)