Industries: agricultural processing; textiles and footwear; wood and wood products; petroleum refining; mining of copper, tin, tungsten, iron; construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer
Agriculture: accounts for 65% of GDP and 65% of employment (including fishing, animal husbandry, and forestry); self-sufficient in food; principal crops - paddy rice, corn, oilseed, sugarcane, pulses; world's largest stand of hardwood trees; rice and timber account for 55% of export revenues
Illicit drugs: world's largest illicit producer of opium (2,030 metric tons in 1994 - dropped 21% due to regional drought in 1994) and minor producer of cannabis for the international drug trade; opium production continues to be almost double since the collapse of Rangoon's antinarcotic programs; growing role in amphetamine production for regional consumption
Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $158 million;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-89), $3.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $424 million
Currency: 1 kyat (K) = 100 pyas
Exchange rates: kyats (K) per US$1 - 5.8640 (January 1995), 5.9749 (1994), 6.1570 (1993), 6.1045 (1992), 6.2837 (1991), 6.3386 (1990); unofficial - 120
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March
@Burma:Transportation
Railroads:
total: 3,991 km (3,878 km common carrier lines, 113 km industrial
lines)
standard gauge: 3,878 km 1.435-m gauge
other: 113 km NA-m gauge
Highways: total: 27,000 km paved: bituminous 3,200 km unpaved: gravel, improved earth 17,700 km; unimproved earth 6,100 km