Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from abject rural poverty. The military regime took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the "Burmese Way to Socialism", but those efforts have since stalled. Burma has been unable to achieve monetary or fiscal stability, resulting in an economy that suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including an official exchange rate that overvalues the Burmese kyat by more than 100 times the market rate. In addition, most overseas development assistance ceased after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election. Burma is data poor, and official statistics are often dated and inaccurate. Published estimates of Burma's foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and border trade - often estimated to be one to two times the official economy.
Agriculture Products
rice, pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, sugarcane; hardwood; fish and fish products
Industries
agricultural processing; knit and woven apparel; wood and wood products; copper, tin, tungsten, iron; construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer
Industrial Production Growth Rate
NA%
Labor Force
23.7 million (1999 est.)
Electricity production
4.766 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity production by source
Fossil fuel: 83%
Hydro: 17%
Other: 0% (2000)
Nuclear: 0%
Electricity Consumption
4.432 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2000)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2000)
Currency
kyat (MMK)
Unemployment Rate
5.1% (2001 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
25% (2000 est.)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 3%
Highest 10%: 32% (1998)
Budget
Revenues: $7.9 billion
Expenditures: $12.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $5.7 billion (FY96/97)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
Stock of Broad Money
Stock of Domestic Credit
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
Debt External
$6 billion
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
kyats per US dollar - official rate - 6.8581 (January 2002), 6.7489 (2001), 6.5167 (2000), 6.2858 (1999), 6.3432 (1998), 6.2418 (1997); kyats per US dollar - black market exchange rate - 435 (yearend 2000)
