_#_Imports: $2.5 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.);
commodities—foodstuffs and beverages 21%, metal and metal products 16%, machinery 14%, textiles, petroleum (1989);
partners—EC 42%, USSR and Eastern Europe 13%, other Europe 13%, US/Canada 8%, Arab countries 6% (1989)
_#_External debt: $5.2 billion in hard currency (1990 est.)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate 17% (1990 est.); accounts for 19% of GDP
_#_Electricity: 2,867,000 kW capacity; 6,000 million kWh produced, 500 kWh per capita (1989)
_#_Industries: textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, petroleum
_#_Agriculture: accounts for 27% of GDP and one-third of labor force; all major crops (wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas) grown mainly on rainfed land causing wide swings in production; animal products—beef, lamb, eggs, poultry, milk; not self-sufficient in grain or livestock products
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-81), $538 million; Western (non-US) ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $1.2 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $12.3 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $3.3 billion
_#_Currency: Syrian pound (plural—pounds); 1 Syrian pound (5S) = 100 piasters