Economy - overview: | At independence in September 1991, Macedonia was the least developed of the Yugoslav republics, producing a mere 5% of the total federal output of goods and services. The collapse of Yugoslavia ended transfer payments from the center and eliminated advantages from inclusion in a de facto free trade area. An absence of infrastructure, UN sanctions on Yugoslavia, one of its largest markets, and a Greek economic embargo over a dispute about the country's constitutional name and flag hindered economic growth until 1996. GDP subsequently rose each year through 2000. However, the leadership's commitment to economic reform, free trade, and regional integration was undermined by the ethnic Albanian insurgency of 2001. The economy shrank 4.5% because of decreased trade, intermittent border closures, increased deficit spending on security needs, and investor uncertainty. Growth barely recovered in 2002 to 0.9%, then rose to 2.8% in 2003. Unemployment at one-third of the workforce remains the most critical economic problem. The gray economy is estimated at around 40% of GDP. Politically, the country is more stable than in 2002. |
| GDP: | purchasing power parity - $13.81 billion (2004 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: | 2.8% (2004 est.) |
| GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $6,700 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 32.1%
services: 56.6% (2004 est.) |
| Investment (gross fixed): | 16.3% of GDP (2004 est.) |
| Population below poverty line: | 30.2% (2002 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 1.2% (2004 est.) |
| Labor force: | 860,000 (2003 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation: | agriculture NA, industry NA, services NA |
| Unemployment rate: | 36.7% (2004 est.) |
| Budget: | revenues: $1.582 billion
expenditures: $1.661 billion, including capital expenditures of $80 million NA (2004 est.) |
| Public debt: | 30.2% of GDP (2004 est.) |
| Agriculture - products: | rice, tobacco, wheat, corn, millet, cotton, sesame, mulberry leaves, citrus, vegetables; beef, pork, poultry, mutton |
| Industries: | coal, metallic chromium, lead, zinc, ferronickel, textiles, wood products, tobacco, food processing, buses, steel |
| Industrial production growth rate: | 4.5% (2004 est.) |
| Electricity - production: | 6.465 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - consumption: | 6.112 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - exports: | 0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - imports: | 100 million kWh (2001) |
| Oil - production: | 0 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: | 20,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - exports: | NA (2001) |
| Oil - imports: | NA (2001) |
| Current account balance: | $-278 million (2004 est.) |
| Exports: | $1.346 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: | food, beverages, tobacco; miscellaneous manufactures, iron and steel |
| Exports - partners: | Serbia and Montenegro 37.8%, Germany 27%, Italy 14.7%, Greece 9.7%, Croatia 6.9%, US 6.1%, Netherlands 4.8% (2003) |
| Imports: | $2.184 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: | machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; food products |
| Imports - partners: | Greece 17.3%, Germany 12.6%, Serbia and Montenegro 9.2%, Slovenia 7.9%, Bulgaria 7.4%, Italy 6.2%, Turkey 6% (2003) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: | $935.1 million (2004 est.) |
| Debt - external: | $1.929 billion (2004 est.) |
| Economic aid - recipient: | $250 million (2003 est.) |
| Currency: | Macedonian denar (MKD) |
| Currency code: | MKD |
| Exchange rates: | Macedonian denars per US dollar - NA (2003), 64.3498 (2002), 68.0371 (2001), 65.9039 (2000), 56.9018 (1999) |
| Fiscal year: | calendar year
Source: CIA World Factbook
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