Philippines

Economy - overview: The Philippine economy, primarily a mixture of agriculture and light industry, continued its fourth year of recovery in 1996, led by growth in exports and investments. Officials have targeted 7.1%-7.8% growth for 1997 after achieving an estimated 5.5% growth in 1996. The government is continuing its economic reforms to enable the Philippines to move closer to the development of the newly industrialized countries of East Asia. The strategy includes improving infrastructure, overhauling the tax system to bolster government revenues, and moving toward further deregulation and privatization of the economy. GDP: purchasing power parity - $194.2 billion (1996 est.) GDP - real growth rate: 5.5% (1996 est.) GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,600 (1996 est.) GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 22% industry: 32% services: 46% (1996 est.) Inflation rate - consumer price index: 8.4% (1996) Labor force: total: 29.13 million (1996 est.) by occupation : agriculture 43.4%, services 22.6%, government services 17.9%, industry and commerce 16.1% (1995) Unemployment rate: 8.6% (1996) Budget: revenues: $18.4 billion expenditures : $16.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1996 est.) Industries: textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, food processing, electronics assembly, petroleum refining, fishing Industrial production growth rate: 6.3% (1996) Electricity - capacity: 7.64 million kW (1994) Electricity - production: 25.22 billion kWh (1994) Electricity - consumption per capita: 326 kWh (1995 est.) Agriculture - products: rice, coconuts, corn, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, mangoes; pork, eggs, beef; fish catch of 2 million metric tons annually Exports: total value : $20.5 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: electronics, textiles, coconut products, telecommunications equipment, fruit, fish partners: US 36%, Japan 16%, Singapore 5%, Hong Kong 5%, UK 5% (1995) Imports: total value : $33.3 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: crude petroleum, telecommunications equipment, electronics, plastics, cars, textiles partners: Japan 22%, US 18%, Saudi Arabia 6%, Taiwan 5%, South Korea 5% Singapore 4% (1995) Debt - external: $42.7 billion (June 1996) Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $934 million (1993) Currency: 1 Philippine peso (P) = 100 centavos Exchange rates: Philippine pesos (P) per US$1 - 26.36 (May 1997), 26.216 (1996), 25.714 (1995), 26.417 (1994), 27.120 (1993), 25.512 (1992) Fiscal year: calendar year