Economy - overview:
Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation. Although agriculture is almost all in private hands, farms are small and inefficient, and the republic traditionally is a net importer of food. Industry remains greatly overstaffed, a holdover from the socialist economic structure of Yugoslavia. TITO had pushed the development of military industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia was saddled with a host of industrial firms with little commercial potential. The interethnic warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80% from 1992 to 1995 and unemployment to soar. With an uneasy peace in place, output recovered in 1996-99 at high percentage rates from a low base; but output growth slowed in 2000-02. Part of the lag in output was made up in 2003-05. National-level statistics are limited and do not capture the large share of black market activity. The konvertibilna marka (convertible mark or BAM)- the national currency introduced in 1998 - is pegged to the euro, and confidence in the currency and the banking sector has increased. Implementation of privatization, however, has been slow, and local entities only reluctantly support national-level institutions. Banking reform accelerated in 2001 as all the Communist-era payments bureaus were shut down; foreign banks, primarily from Western Europe, now control most of the banking sector. A sizeable current account deficit and high unemployment rate remain the two most serious economic problems. The country receives substantial amounts of reconstruction assistance and humanitarian aid from the international community but will have to prepare for an era of declining assistance.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$28.59 billion
note: Bosnia has a large informal sector that could also be as much as 50% of official GDP (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$8.68 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
5.3% (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$6,800 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 14.2%
industry: 30.8%
services: 55% (2002)
Labor force:
1.026 million (2001)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%
Unemployment rate:
45.5% official rate; grey economy may reduce actual unemployment to 25-30% (31 December 2004 est.)
Population below poverty line:
25% (2004 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
26.2 (2001)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.4% (2005 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $4.373 billion
expenditures: $4.401 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)
Agriculture - products:
wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables; livestock
Industries:
steel, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, manganese, bauxite, vehicle assembly, textiles, tobacco products, wooden furniture, tank and aircraft assembly, domestic appliances, oil refining
Industrial production growth rate:
5.5% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production:
10.51 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - consumption:
8.849 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - exports:
3.2 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports:
2.271 billion kWh (2003)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2003)
Oil - consumption:
21,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day
Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day
Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
160 million cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
300 million cu m (2001 est.)
Current account balance:
-$2.375 billion (2005 est.)
Exports:
$2.7 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - commodities:
metals, clothing, wood products
Exports - partners:
Italy 22.2%, Croatia 21.1%, Germany 20.8%, Austria 7.4%, Slovenia 7.1%, Hungary 4.8% (2004)
Imports:
$6.8 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs
Imports - partners:
Croatia 23.8%, Slovenia 15.8%, Germany 14.8%, Italy 11.4%, Austria 6.6%, Hungary 6.1% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$3 billion (2005 est.)
Debt - external:
$3.1 billion (2005 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$650 million (2001 est.)
Currency (code):
marka (BAM)
Exchange rates:
marka per US dollar - 1.5727 (2005), 1.5752 (2004), 1.7329 (2003), 2.0782 (2002), 2.1857 (2001)
note: the marka is pegged to the euro
Fiscal year:
calendar year
