Economy of Nicaragua
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| Economy of Nicaragua | ||
|---|---|---|
| Currency | 1 Córdoba (NIO) = 100 centavos | |
| Fiscal year | Calendar year | |
| Trade organizations | CAFTA, FTAA, WTO, GSTP | |
| Statistics | ||
| GDP Ranking (2005) | 103th by volume adjusted for PPP; | |
| GDP PPP | $17.09 billion (2006 est.) | |
| GDP growth rate | 3.7% (2006 est.) | |
| GDP per Capita | $3,100 (2006 est.) | |
| GDP by sector | agriculture: 17.2% , industry: 25.9%, services: 56.9%% | |
| Inflation rate | 9.1% (2006 est.) | |
| Pop below poverty line | 28% (2006)[1] | |
| Labour force | 2.204 million (2006 est.) | |
| Labour force by occupation | agriculture: 29%, industry: 19%, services: 52% (2006) | |
| Unemployment rate | 3.8% (2006) | |
| Main Industries | food processing, chemicals, machinery and metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear, wood | |
| Trading Partners | ||
| Exports | $1.978 billion f.o.b.; note - includes free trade zones (2006 est.) | |
| Main Partners | US 65.9%, El Salvador 7%, Honduras 3.8% (2006) | |
| Imports | $3.422 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) | |
| Main Partners | US 22.5%, Venezuela 10.5%, Costa Rica 7.7%, Mexico 7.2%, Guatemala 6.1%, the People's Republic of China 4.8%, El Salvador 4.4% (2006) (2006) | |
| Public Finances | ||
| Public Debt | 83.1% of GDP (2006 est.) | |
| Revenues | $996.7 million (2006 est.) | |
| Expenditures | $1.211 billion (2006 est.) | |
| Economic Aid | $471 million (2006 est.) | |
The economy of Nicaragua has made significant progress toward macro-economic stabilization over the past few years - even with the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch in the fall of 1998. International aid, debt relief, and continued foreign investment have contributed to the stabilization process. GDP grew 6.3% in 1999, while inflation remained about 12%, and unemployment dropped. In 2005, finance ministers of the leading eight industrialized nations (G-8) agreed to forgive Nicaragua's foreign debt, as part of the HIPC program. Aid is conditioned on improving governability, the openness of government financial operations, poverty alleviation, and human rights. According to the CIA Fact Book, Nicaraguas GDP per capita ranks #158, however, sources give differing data.
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[edit] Economy
Nicaragua's economy was ravaged in the 1980s by the Contra War, which saw the destruction of much of the country's infrastructure. At the same time, the US staged an economic blockade from 1985 onward.
Following the end of the war and the defeat of the Sandinistas in the 1990 general election, Nicaragua began free market reforms, privatizing more than 350 state enterprises. Since then, inflation has been reduced from 33,603% to 8%, and the government's foreign debt has been cut in half. The economy began expanding in 1991 and grew 2.5% in 2001. In 2001, the global recession, combined with a series of bank failures, low coffee prices, and a drought, caused the economy to retract.
Unemployment is officially 3.8% (2006 est.), and another 46.5% (2006 est.) are underemployed. Nicaragua suffers from persistent trade and budget deficits and a high debt-service burden, leaving it highly dependent on foreign assistance--as much as 25% of GDP in 2001.
One of the key engines of economic growth has been production for export. Exports were 640 million in 2001. Although traditional products such as coffee, meat, and sugar continued to lead the list of Nicaraguan exports, the fastest growth is now in nontraditional exports: maquila goods (apparel); gold; seafood; and new agricultural products such as peanuts, sesame, melons, and onions. In 2007 Daniel Ortega managed exports to top 1 billion dollars for the first time in Nicaraguan history during his first 100 days as president.[2] Nicaragua also depends heavily on remittances from Nicaraguans living abroad.
Nicaragua is primarily an agricultural country, but construction, mining, fisheries, and general commerce also have been expanding during the last few years. Foreign private capital inflows topped $300 million in 1999 but, due to economic and political uncertainty, fell to less than $100 million in 2001. In the last 12 years tourism has grown 394%,[3] the rapid growth has led it to become Nicaragua's second largest source of foreign capital. Less than three years ago, the nation’s tourism budget was U.S. $400,000; today, it is over $2 million.[3] Nicaragua's economy has also produced a construction boom,[4] the majority of which is in and around Managua.
Nicaragua faces a number of challenges in stimulating rapid economic growth. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) program is currently being followed, with the aim of attracting investment, creating jobs, and reducing poverty by opening the economy to foreign trade. This process was boosted in late 2000 when Nicaragua reached the decision point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative. However, HIPC benefits were delayed because Nicaragua subsequently fell "off track" from its IMF program. The country also has been grappling with a string of bank failures that began in August 2000. Moreover, Nicaragua continues to lose international reserves due to its growing fiscal deficits.
The country is still a recovering economy and it continues to implement further reforms, on which aid from the IMF is conditional. In 2005, finance ministers of the leading eight industrialized nations (G-8) agreed to forgive some of Nicaragua's foreign debt, as part of the HIPC program. According to the World Bank Nicaragua's GDP was around $4.9 US billion dollars. Recently, in March 2007, Poland and Nicaragua signed an agreement to write off 30.6 million dollars which was borrowed by the Nicaraguan government in the 1980s. [5]
The U.S. is the country's largest trading partner, providing 25% of Nicaragua's imports and receiving about 60% of its exports. About 25 wholly or partly owned subsidiaries of U.S. companies operate in Nicaragua. The largest of those investments are in the energy, communications, manufacturing, fisheries, and shrimp farming sectors. Good opportunities exist for further investments in those same sectors, as well as in tourism, mining, franchising, and the distribution of imported consumer, manufacturing, and agricultural goods. There also are copper mines in northeastern Nicaragua.
[edit] Components of the economy
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2006 was estimated at $16.83 billion USD, and GDP per capita in PPP at $3,000 USD.[6] The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 56.8%, followed by the industrial sector at 25.8% (2006 est.). Agriculture represents only 17.3% of GDP (2006 est.). Nicaraguan labor force is estimated at 2.261 million of which 29% is occupied in agriculture, 19% in the industry sector and 52% in the service sector (est. 2003).
[edit] Agriculture and food production
| Food and agriculture | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Agricultural workers in Nicaragua | ||
| Product | World Rank1 | |
| Coffee, Green | 4 | |
| Beans, Dry | 17 | |
| Groundnuts in Shell | 30 | |
| Indigenous Horse Meat | 30 | |
| Plantains | 32 | |
| Sesame Seed | 32 | |
| Sugar Cane | 32 | |
| Pineapples | 33 | |
| Castor Beans | 37 | |
| Cocoa Beans | 41 | |
| Cassava | 48 | |
| Oranges | 49 | |
| Soybeans | 50 | |
| 1Source: FAO (2005) Major Food and Agricultural Commodities and Producers | ||
Coffee became Nicaragua's principal crop in the 1870s, a position it still held in 1992 despite the growing importance of other crops. Cotton gained importance in the late 1940s, and in 1992 was the second biggest export earner. In the early 1900s, Nicaraguan governments were reluctant to give concessions to the large United States banana companies, and bananas never attained the level of prominence in Nicaragua that they reached in Nicaragua's Central American neighbors; bananas were grown in the country, however, and were generally the third largest export earner in the post-World War II period. Beef and animal byproducts , the most important agricultural export for the three centuries before the coffee boom of the late 1800s, were still important commodities in 1992.
From the end of World War II to the early 1960s, the growth and diversification of the agricultural sector drove the nation's economic expansion. From the early 1960s until the increased fighting in 1977 caused by the Sandinista revolution, agriculture remained a robust and significant part of the economy, although its growth slowed somewhat in comparison with the previous postwar decades. Statistics for the next fifteen years, however, show stagnation and then a drop in agricultural production.
The agricultural sector declined precipitously in the 1980s. Until the late 1970s, Nicaragua's agricultural export system generated 40 percent of the country's GDP, 60 percent of national employment, and 80 percent of foreign exchange earnings. Throughout the 1980s, the Contras destroyed or disrupted coffee harvests as well as other key income-generating crops. Private industry stopped investing in agriculture because of uncertain returns. Land was taken out of production of export crops to expand plantings of basic grain. Many coffee plants succumbed to disease.
In 1989, the fifth successive year of decline, farm production declined by roughly 7 percent in comparison with the previous year. Production of basic grains fell as a result of Hurricane Joan in 1988 and a drought in 1989. By 1990 agricultural exports had declined to less than half the level of 1978. The only bright spot was the production of nontraditional export crops such as sesame, tobacco, and African palm oil.
[edit] Services
The service sector was estimated to account for 56.8% of the country's GDP, and employs 52% of the active population.[6] This section includes transportation, commerce, warehousing, restaurant and hotels, arts and entertainment, health, education, financial and banking services, telecommunications as well as public administration and defense.
Tourism in Nicaragua is one of the most important industries in the country. It is the second largest source of foreign exchange for the country and is predicted to become the first largest industry in 2007.[7] The growth in tourism has positively affected the agricultural, commercial, finance, and construction industries as well.
[edit] Other statistics
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.6%; highest 10%: 39.8% (1993)
Industrial production growth rate: 2.4% (2005 est.)
Electricity - production: 2.778 billion kWh (2006)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 53.43%; hydro: 35.34%; nuclear: 0%; other: 11.23% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 2.929 billion kWh (2006)
Electricity - exports: 69.34 million kWh (2006)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2006)
Agriculture - products: coffee, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products; shrimp, lobsters
Exports - commodities: coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, cotton, tobacco, beef, peanuts, sugar, bananas; gold
Imports - commodities: consumer goods, machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum products
Currency: 1 gold Cordoba (C$) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: gold Cordoba (C$) per US$1 - 17.582 (2006), 16.733 (2005), 15.937 (2004), 15.105 (2003), 14.251 (2002)
[edit] See also
- Nicaragua
- Banking in Nicaragua
- Tourism in Nicaragua
- Agriculture in Nicaragua
- Economy of North America
[edit] Nicaragua related topics
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[edit] References
- ^ United Nations
- ^ Monstersandcritics.com Close scrutiny after President Ortega's first 100 days
- ^ a b Rcalvet.com Government Gets Tough on Environmental Scofflaws
- ^ CostaRicaPages.com Nicaragua Information
- ^ english.people.com.cn Poland forgives nearly 31 million dollars of debt owed by Nicaragua
- ^ a b CIA - The World Factbook - Nicaragua
- ^ Canal2tv.com Turismo en Nicaragua: aportes y desafios parte I
[edit] External links
- U.S./Nicaraguan embassy economic reports
- Labor Conditions in the Nicaraguan Sugar Industry A 2005 study by PASE and the International Labor Rights Fund
- cia.gov factbook on Nicaragua
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