Canada
GUATEMALA
COUNTRIES A-Z
ECONOMIC DETAILS OF GUATEMALA

ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Guatemala is the largest and most populous of the Central American countries with a GDP per capita roughly one-half that of Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. The agricultural sector accounts for about one-fourth of GDP, two-fifths of exports, and half of the labor force. Coffee, sugar, and bananas are the main products. The 1996 signing of peace accords, which ended 36 years of civil war, removed a major obstacle to foreign investment, and Guatemala since then has pursued important reforms and macroeconomic stabilization. On 1 July 2006, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) entered in to force between the US and Guatemala. The distribution of income remains highly unequal with about 56% of the population below the poverty line. Other ongoing challenges include increasing government revenues, negotiating further assistance from international donors, upgrading both government and private financial operations, curtailing drug trafficking, and narrowing the trade deficit. Remittances from a large expatriate community that moved to the United States during the war have become the primary source of foreign income, exceeding the total value of exports and tourism combined. 
GDP - purchasing power parity:
$61.38 billion (2006 est.) 

GDP - real growth rate:
4.6% (2006 est.) 


GDP - per capita:
$5,000 (2006 est.) 

GDP - by sector (agriculture):
agriculture: 22.1% 

GDP - by sector (industry):
industry: 19.1% 

GDP - by sector (services):
services: 58.7% (2006 est.) 


Export Partners:
US 45.2%, El Salvador 12.1%, Honduras 7.3% (2006) 

Import Partners:
US 31.3%, Mexico 7.9%, China 6.1%, El Salvador 5%, South Korea 5%, Panama 4.6% (2006) 

Export Commodities:
coffee, sugar, petroleum, apparel, bananas, fruits and vegetables, cardamom 

Import Commodities:
fuels, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials, grain, fertilizers, electricity 
Exports Volume:
$3.71 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) 

Imports Volume:
$9.911 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) 


 
Labour Force:
5.02 million (2005 est.) 

Unemployment Rate:
3.2% (2005 est.) 

Population below poverty line:
56.2% (2004 est.) 

Inflation Rate:
5.8% (2006) 

Investment (gross fixed):
15.5% of GDP (2006 est.) 

Public Debt:
18.6% of GDP (2006 est.) 


Agriculture Products:
sugarcane, corn, bananas, coffee, beans, cardamom; cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens 

Industries:
sugar, textiles and clothing, furniture, chemicals, petroleum, metals, rubber, tourism 

Industrial Production Growth Rate:
3.6% (2006 est.) 


 
Electricity - production:
7.2 billion kWh (2005) 

Electricity - consumption:
6.625 billion kWh (2005) 

Electricity - exports:
335 million kWh (2005) 

Electricity - imports:
23 million kWh (2005) 


 
Oil - production:
16,370 bbl/day (2006 est.) 

Oil - consumption:
73,510 bbl/day (2006 est.) 

Oil - exports:
15,560 bbl/day (2006 est.) 

Oil - imports:
72,960 bbl/day (2006 est.) 


 
Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2004 est.) 

Natural gas - consumption:
 

Natural gas - exports:
 

Natural gas - imports:
 


Current Account Balance:
-$1.533 billion (2006 est.) 

Currency Code:
quetzal (GTQ), US dollar (USD), others allowed 



 
 
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