| Economy - overview | The smallest country in Central America, El Salvador has the third largest economy, but growth has been minimal in recent years. Hoping to stimulate the sluggish economy, the government is striving to open new export markets, encourage foreign investment, and modernize the tax and healthcare systems. Implementation in 2006 of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, which El Salvador was the first to ratify, has strengthened an already positive export trend. The trade deficit has been offset by annual remittances from Salvadorans living abroad - equivalent to more than 16% of GDP - and external aid. With the adoption of the US dollar as its currency in 2001, El Salvador has lost control over monetary policy and must concentrate on maintaining a disciplined fiscal policy. The current government has pursued economic diversification, with some success in promoting textile production, international port services, and tourism. It is committed to opening the economy to trade and investment, and has embarked on a wave of privatizations extending to telecom, electricity distribution, banking, and pension funds. |
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| GDP | 5% (2006) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 4.2% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 9.7%
industry: 29.6%
services: 60.7% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 35.2% (2005 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 0.67%
highest 10%: 38.76% (2002) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 52.5 (2001) |
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| Labor force | 2.856 million (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 17.1%
industry: 17.1%
services: 65.8% (2003 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 6% official rate; but the economy has much underemployment (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $2.82 billion
expenditures: $2.94 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (FY07 est.) |
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| Industries | food processing, beverages, petroleum, chemicals, fertilizer, textiles, furniture, light metals |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 2% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 5.293 billion kWh (2006) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 44%
hydro: 30.9%
nuclear: 0%
other: 25.1% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 5.204 billion kWh (2006) |
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Electricity -
exports | 95.5 million kWh (2006) |
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Electricity -
imports | 11.2 million kWh (2006) |
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| Oil - production | 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 43,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
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| Agriculture - products | coffee, sugar, corn, rice, beans, oilseed, cotton, sorghum; beef, dairy products; shrimp |
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| Exports | $3.686 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | offshore assembly exports, coffee, sugar, shrimp, textiles, chemicals, electricity |
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| Exports - partners | US 61%, Guatemala 12.1%, Honduras 7.4%, Nicaragua 4.2% (2005) |
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| Imports | $7.326 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | raw materials, consumer goods, capital goods, fuels, foodstuffs, petroleum, electricity |
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| Imports - partners | US 43.4%, Guatemala 8.2%, Mexico 7.8% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $8.841 billion (30 June 2006 est.) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $127.5 million of which, $55 million from US (2005) |
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| Currency code | USD |
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| Exchange rates | the US dollar became El Salvador's currency in 2001 |
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| Fiscal year | calendar year |
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