| Economy - overview: The stable, high-income economy features
solid growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. The industrial sector,
initially dominated by steel, has become increasingly diversified to
include chemicals, rubber, and other products. Growth in the financial
sector has more than compensated for the decline in steel. Services,
especially banking, account for a substantial proportion of the economy.
Agriculture is based on small family-owned farms. The economy depends on
foreign and trans-border workers for 30% of its labor force. Luxembourg
has a custom union with Belgium and the Netherlands, and, as a member of
the EU, enjoys the advantages of the open European market. It joined with
10 other EU members to launch the euro on 1 January 1999. GDP: purchasing power
parity - $15.9 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 5.7% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $36,400 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 30%
services: 69% (2000 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 17.8% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 248,000 (of whom 70,200 are foreign cross-border
workers primarily from France, Belgium, and Germany) (2000)
Labor force - by occupation: services 83.2%, industry 14.3%, agriculture 2.5%
(1998 est.)
Unemployment rate: 2.7% (2000 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $5.6 billion
expenditures: $5.6 billion (2000 est.)
Industries: banking, iron and steel, food processing, chemicals, metal products,
engineering, tires, glass, aluminum
Industrial production growth rate: 7.8% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 648 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 36.88%
hydro: 53.09%
nuclear: 0%
other: 10.03% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 6.149 billion kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: barley, oats, potatoes, wheat, fruits, wine grapes;
livestock products
Exports: $7.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, steel products,
chemicals, rubber products, glass
Exports - partners: EU 75% (Germany 25%, France 21%, Belgium 13%,
UK 8%, Italy 6%, Netherlands 5%), US 4% (1999)
Imports: $10 billion (c.i.f., 2000)
Imports - commodities: minerals, metals, foodstuffs, quality consumer goods
Imports - partners: EU 81% (Belgium 35%, Germany 26%, France 12%,
Netherlands 4%), US 9% (1999)
Economic aid - donor: ODA, $160 million (1999)
Currency: Luxembourg franc (LUF); euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a
common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in
Luxembourg at a fixed rate of 40.3399 Luxembourg francs per euro and will
replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002.
SOURCE: The World Factbook |