Flag: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and red
@Serbia And Montenegro:Economy
Overview: The swift collapse of the Yugoslav federation in 1991 has been followed by bloody ethnic warfare, the destabilization of republic boundaries, and the breakup of important interrepublic trade flows. Serbia and Montenegro faces major economic problems; output has dropped sharply, particularly in 1993. First, like the other former Yugoslav republics, it depended on its sister republics for large amounts of foodstuffs, energy supplies, and manufactures. Wide differences in climate, mineral resources, and levels of technology among the republics accentuated this interdependence, as did the communist practice of concentrating much industrial output in a small number of giant plants. The breakup of many of the trade links, the sharp drop in output as industrial plants lost suppliers and markets, and the destruction of physical assets in the fighting all have contributed to the economic difficulties of the republics. One singular factor in the economic situation of Serbia and Montenegro is the continuation in office of a communist government that is primarily interested in political and military mastery, not economic reform. A further complication is the imposition of economic sanctions by the UN in 1992. Hyperinflation ended with the establishment of a new currency unit in June 1993; prices were relatively stable in 1994. Reliable statistics are hard to come by; the GDP estimate of $1,000 per capita in 1994 is extremely rough. Output in 1994 seems to have leveled off after the plunge in 1993.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $10 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate: NA%
National product per capita: $1,000 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 20% (January-November 1994 est.)
Unemployment rate: more than 40% (1994 est.)
Budget: revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports: $NA
commodities: prior to the breakup of the federation, Yugoslavia
exported machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods,
chemicals, food and live animals, raw materials
partners: prior to the imposition of UN sanctions trade partners were
the other former Yugoslav republics, Italy, Germany, other EC, the FSU
countries, East European countries, US