:Romania Economy
Overview:
Industry, which accounts for about one-third of the labor force and
generates over half the GDP, suffers from an aging capital plant and
persistent shortages of energy. The year 1991 witnessed about a 17% drop in
industrial production because of energy and input shortages and labor
unrest. In recent years the agricultural sector has had to contend with
flooding, mismanagement, shortages of inputs, and disarray caused by the
dismantling of cooperatives. A shortage of fuel and equipment in 1991
contributed to a lackluster harvest, a problem compounded by corruption and
a poor distribution system. The new government is loosening the tight
central controls of CEAUSESCU'S command economy. It has instituted moderate
land reforms, with more than one-half of cropland now in private hands, and
it has liberalized private agricultural output. Also, the new regime is
permitting the establishment of private enterprises, largely in services,
handicrafts, and small-scale industry. A law providing for the privatization
of large state firms has been passed. Most of the large state firms have
been converted into joint-stock companies, but the selling of shares and
assets to private owners has been delayed. While the government has halted
the old policy of diverting food from domestic consumption to hard currency
export markets, supplies remain scarce in some areas. Furthermore, real
wages in Romania fell about 20% in 1991, contributing to the unrest which
forced the resignation of ROMAN in September. The new government continues
to impose price ceilings on key consumer items.
GDP:
purchasing power equivalent - $71.9 billion, per capita $3,100; real growth
rate - 12% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
215% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
4% (1991 est.)
Budget:
revenues $19 billion; expenditures $20 billion, including capital
expenditures of $2.1 billion (1991 est.)
Exports:
$4.0 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
machinery and equipment 29.3%, fuels, minerals and metals 32.1%,
manufactured consumer goods 18.1%, agricultural materials and forestry
products 9.0%, other 11.5% (1989)
partners:
USSR 27%, Eastern Europe 23%, EC 15%, US 5%, China 4% (1987)
Imports:
$5.4 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
fuels, minerals, and metals 56.0%, machinery and equipment 25.5%,
agricultural and forestry products 8.6%, manufactured consumer goods 3.4%,
other 6.5% (1989)
partners:
Communist countries 60%, non-Communist countries 40% (1987)
External debt:
$2 billion (1991)
Industrial production:
growth rate -17% (1991 est.)
Electricity:
22,700,000 kW capacity; 64,200 million kWh produced, 2,760 kWh per capita
(1990)
Industries:
mining, timber, construction materials, metallurgy, chemicals, machine
building, food processing, petroleum
:Romania Economy
Agriculture:
accounts for 15% of GDP and 28% of labor force; major wheat and corn
producer; other products - sugar beets, sunflower seed, potatoes, milk,
eggs, meat, grapes
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route
Economic aid:
donor - $4.4 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed
countries (1956-89)
Currency:
leu (plural - lei); 1 leu (L) = 100 bani
Exchange rates:
lei (L) per US$1 - 198.00 (March 1992), 76.39 (1991), 22.432 (1990), 14.922
(1989), 14.277 (1988), 14.557 (1987)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
:Romania Communications
Railroads:
11,275 km total; 10,860 km 1.435-meter gauge, 370 km narrow gauge, 45 km
broad gauge; 3,411 km electrified, 3,060 km double track; government owned
(1987)
Highways:
72,799 km total; 35,970 km paved; 27,729 km gravel, crushed stone, and other
stabilized surfaces; 9,100 km unsurfaced roads (1985)
Inland waterways:
1,724 km (1984)
Pipelines:
crude oil 2,800 km, petroleum products 1,429 km, natural gas 6,400 km
Ports:
Constanta, Galati, Braila, Mangalia; inland ports are Giurgiu, Drobeta-Turnu
Severin, Orsova
Merchant marine:
262 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,320,373 GRT/5,207,580 DWT; includes
1 passenger-cargo, 174 cargo, 2 container, 1 rail-car carrier, 9
roll-on/roll-off cargo, 13 petroleum tanker, 60 bulk, 2 combination ore/oil
Civil air:
59 major transport aircraft
Airports:
165 total, 165 usable; 25 with permanent-surface runways; 15 with runways
2,440-3,659 m; 15 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications:
poor service; about 2.3 million telephone customers; 89% of phone network is
automatic; cable and open wire; trunk network is microwave; present phone
density is 9.85 per 100 residents; roughly 3,300 villages with no service
(February 1990); broadcast stations - 12 AM, 5 FM, 13 TV (1990); 1 satellite
ground station using INTELSAT
:Romania Defense Forces
Branches:
Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Paramilitary Forces, Civil Defense
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, 5,799,837; 4,909,642 fit for military service; 184,913 reach
military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - 50 billion lei (unofficial), NA% of GDP (1991);
note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current
exchange rate could produce misleading results
:Russia Geography
Total area:
17,075,200 km2
Land area:
16,995,800 km2
Comparative area:
slightly more than 1.8 times the size of the US
Land boundaries:
20,139 km total; Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605
km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 290 km, Finland 1,313 km, Georgia 723 km,
Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 19 km, Latvia 217 km, Lithuania
(Kaliningrad Oblast) 227 km, Mongolia 3,441 km, Norway 167 km, Poland
(Kaliningrad Oblast) 432 km, Ukraine 1,576 km
Coastline:
37,653 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone:
NA nm
Continental shelf:
200-meter depth or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
Exclusive fishing zone:
NA nm
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
inherited disputes from former USSR including: sections of the boundary with
China, a section of the boundary with Tajikistan; boundary with Latvia,
Lithuania, and Estonia; Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan Islands and the
Habomai island group occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, claimed by Japan;
maritime dispute with Norway over portion of the Barents Sea; has made no
territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and
does not recognize the claims of any other nation
Climate:
ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of
European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north;
winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers
vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast
Terrain:
broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra
in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions
Natural resources:
wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas,
coal, and many strategic minerals; timber; note - formidable obstacles of
climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources
Land use:
NA% arable land; NA% permanent crops; NA% meadows and pastures; NA% forest
and woodland; NA% other; includes NA% irrigated
Environment:
despite its size, only a small percentage of land is arable and much is too
far north; permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to
development; catastrophic pollution of land, air, water, including both
inland waterways and sea coasts
Note:
largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in
relation to major sea lanes of the world