Economy - overview: Burma has a mixed economy with private activity dominant in agriculture, light industry, and transport, and with substantial state-controlled activity, mainly in energy, heavy industry, and the rice trade. Government policy in the last eight years, 1989-96, has aimed at revitalizing the economy after three decades of tight central planning. Thus, private activity has markedly increased; foreign investment has been encouraged, so far with moderate success; and efforts continue to increase the efficiency of state enterprises. Published estimates of Burma's foreign trade are greatly understated because of the volume of black-market trade. A major ongoing problem is the failure to achieve monetary and fiscal stability. Although Burma remains a poor Asian country, its rich resources furnish the potential for substantial long-term increases in income, exports, and living standards.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $51.5 billion (1996 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 7% (1996 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,120 (1996 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 63% industry: 9% services : 28% (1995 est.)
Inflation rate - consumer price index: 30%-40% (1996 est.)
Labor force: total: 16.007 million (1992) by occupation: agriculture 65.2%, industry 14.3%, trade 10.1%, government 6.3%, other 4.1% (FY88/89 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget: revenues: $5.3 billion expenditures : $10 billion, including capital expenditures of $3 billion (1995 est.)
Industries: agricultural processing; textiles and footwear; wood and wood products; copper, tin, tungsten, iron; construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer