|
|
El Salvador
- Economy
|
Overview
|
Despite being the smallest country geographically in Central America, El Salvador has the third largest economy with a per capita income that is roughly two-thirds that of Costa Rica and Panama, but more than double that of Nicaragua. Growth has been modest in recent years and the economy contracted nearly 3% in 2009. El Salvador leads the region in remittances per capita with inflows equivalent to nearly all export income and about a third of all households receive these financial inflows. In 2006 El Salvador was the first country to ratify the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement. CAFTA has bolstered exports of processed foods, sugar, and ethanol, and supported investment in the apparel sector, which faced Asian competition with the expiration of the Multi-Fiber Agreement in 2005. In anticipation of the declines in the apparel sector's competitiveness, the previous administration sought to diversify the economy by promoting the country as a regional distribution and logistics hub, and by promoting tourism investment through tax incentives. El Salvador has promoted an open trade and investment environment, and has embarked on a wave of privatizations extending to telecom, electricity distribution, banking, and pension funds. In late 2006, the government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a five-year, $461 million compact to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty in the country's northern region, the primary conflict zone during the civil war, through investments in education, public services, enterprise development, and transportation infrastructure. With the adoption of the US dollar as its currency in 2001, El Salvador lost control over monetary policy. Any counter-cyclical policy response to the downturn must be through fiscal policy, which is constrained by legislative requirements for a two-thirds majority to approve any international financing.
|
|
GDP
(Gross
domestic product) |
|
Purchasing
power parity:
$ 43,270,000,000
USD (2009)
Rank: 93
Official
exchange rate:
$21.1 billion
Composition by
sector
- agriculture: 9.7%
- industry: 29.6%
- services: 60.7%
Per capita: $ 7,200
(2009 est.)
Rank: 124
Real growth rate: -3.1
(2009 est.)
Rank: 166
|
|
Industrial Sector &
Agriculture |
Industries: food processing, beverages, petroleum, chemicals, fertilizer, textiles, furniture, light metals
Industrial production growth rate: 0,9
(2009 est.)
Rank: 149
Agriculture - products: coffee, sugar, corn, rice, beans, oilseed, cotton, sorghum; beef, dairy products; shrimp
|
|
Labor Force
|
|
Labor force: 2,856,000
(2006 est. )
Rank: 99
by
occupation: agriculture: 17.1%; industry: 17.1%; services: 65.8% (2003 est.)
Unemployment rate:
7.2
(2009 est.)
Rank: 67
Population below poverty
line: 35.2%
|
|
Financial Data |
Currency: US dollar (USD)
Code:
USDSV
Exchange rates: the US dollar is the legal tender
Currency Calculator
Current
account balance: $ -390,000,000
(2009 est.)
Rank: 100
Budget
FY07 est.
- revenues:
revenues: $2.82 billion
- expenditures: expenditures: $2.94 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (FY07 est.)
Inflation rate: 0,6
(2009 est.
Rank: 38
Reserves: $ 2,003,000,000
USD (2005)
Rank: 94
Investment: 13
(2009)
Rank: 143
Public Debt:
52.7
USD (2009 est.)
Rank: 48
Debt - external: $6.575 billion (2003 est.)
(31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 81
Economic Aid - Donor:
Economic Aid - Recipient: $267.6 million of which $55 million from US (2005)
Household income by percentage share highest
10%: 38.76%
Household income by percentage share lowest 10%: 0.67%
Bezugsjahr: (2002)
Gini Index: 52.4
Gini Index US: 52.5
Gini Index Bezugsjahr: 2001
Corruption Index: 3.6
Corruption Rank: 73
Tourismus:
Tourismus-Einnahmen:
Fiscal year: calendar year
|
|
|
Source:
CIA
World Factbook. This page was last updated on
18 February, 2011
|
