Economy - overview Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation. Although agriculture has been almost all in private hands, farms have been small and inefficient, and the republic traditionally has been a net importer of food. Industry has been greatly overstaffed, one reflection of the rigidities of communist central planning and management. TITO had pushed the development of military industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia hosted a large share of Yugoslavia's defense plants. The bitter interethnic warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80% from 1990 to 1995, unemployment to soar, and human misery to multiply. With an uneasy peace in place, output has recovered in 1996-97 at high percentage rates on a low base, but remains less than half the 1990 level. The country, especially in the Muslim-Croat area, receives substantial amounts of humanitarian aid from the international community. Wide regional differences in war damage and access to the outside world have resulted in substantial variations in living conditions among local areas and individual families.

GDP purchasing power parity - $4.41 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 35% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $1,690 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 19%
industry: 23%
services: 58% (1996 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index NA%

Labor force
total: 1,026,254
by occupation: NA%

Unemployment rate 40%-50% (1996 est.)

Budget
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries steel, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, manganese, bauxite, vehicle assembly, textiles, tobacco products, wooden furniture, tank and aircraft assembly, domestic appliances, oil refining; much of capacity damaged or shut down (1995)

Industrial production growth rate NA%

Electricity - capacity 2.339 million kW (1995)

Electricity - production 1.4 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 506 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables; livestock

Exports
total value: $152 million (1995 est.)
commodities: NA
partners: NA

Imports
total value: $1.1 billion (1995 est.)
commodities: NA
partners: NA

Debt - external $3.5 billion (yearend 1995 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: $1.2 billion (1997 pledged)

Currency 1 convertible marka = 100 convertible pfenniga; former currencies still used

Exchange rates NA

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Bosnia and Herzegovina Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Bosnia and Herzegovina Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.