Economy Overview:

    Five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, progress towards economic
    integration between eastern and western Germany is clearly visible, yet the
    eastern region almost certainly will remain dependent on subsidies funded by
    western Germany until well into the next century. The staggering $390
    billion in western German assistance that the eastern states have received
    since 1990 - 40 times the amount in real terms of US Marshall Fund aid sent
    to West Germany after World War II - is just beginning to have an impact on
    the eastern German standard of living, which plummeted after unification.
    Assistance to the east continues to run at roughly $100 billion annually.
    Although the growth rate in the east was much greater than in the west in
    1993-94, eastern GDP per capita nonetheless remains well below
    preunification levels; it will take 10-15 years for the eastern states to
    match western Germany's living standards. The economic recovery in the east
    is led by the construction industries which account for one-third of
    industrial output, with growth increasingly supported by the service sectors
    and light manufacturing industries. Eastern Germany's economy is changing
    from one anchored on manufacturing to a more service-oriented economy.
    Western Germany, with three times the per capita output of the eastern
    states, has an advanced market economy and is a world leader in exports. The
    strong recovery in 1994 from recession began in the export sector and spread
    to the investment and consumption sectors in response to falling interest
    rates. Western Germany has a highly urbanized and skilled population that
    enjoys excellent living standards, abundant leisure time, and comprehensive
    social welfare benefits. It is relatively poor in natural resources, coal
    being the most important mineral. Western Germany's world-class companies
    manufacture technologically advanced goods. The region's economy is mature:
    services and manufacturing account for the dominant share of economic
    activities, and raw materials and semimanufactured goods constitute a large
    portion of imports.


National product:
  Germany:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $1.3446 trillion (1994 est.)
  western:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $1.2363 trillion (1994 est.)
  eastern:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $108.3 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate:
  Germany:
    2.9% (1994 est.)
  western:
    2.3% (1994 est.)
  eastern:
    9.2% (1994 est.)
National product per capita:
  Germany:
    $16,580 (1994 est.)
  western:
    $19,660 (1994 est.)
  eastern:
    $5,950 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  western:
    3% (1994)
  eastern:
    3.2% (1994 est.)
Unemployment rate:
  western:
    8.2% (December 1994)


  eastern:
    13.5% (December 1994)
Budget:
  revenues:
    $690 billion
  expenditures:
    $780 billion, including capital expenditures of $96.5 billion (1994)


Industrial production:

  western:
    growth rate 2.8% (1994)
  eastern:
    growth rate $NA
Electricity:
  capacity:
    115,430,000 kW
  production:
    493 billion kWh
  consumption per capita:
    5,683 kWh (1993)


Economic Activity

Industries:

  western:
    among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of iron, steel,
    coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics;
    food and beverages
  eastern:
    metal fabrication, chemicals, brown coal, shipbuilding, machine building,
    food and beverages, textiles, petroleum refining
Agriculture:
  western:
    accounts for about 1% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); diversified
    crop and livestock farming; principal crops and livestock include potatoes,
    wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbage, cattle, pigs, poultry; net
    importer of food
  eastern:
    accounts for about 10% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); principal
    crops - wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, fruit; livestock products
    include pork, beef, chicken, milk, hides and skins; net importer of food

Exports:

    $437 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
  Commodities:
    manufactures 89.3% (including machines and machine tools, chemicals, motor
    vehicles, iron and steel products), agricultural products 5.5%, raw
    materials 2.7%, fuels 1.3% (1993)
   Major Trade Partners::
    EC 47.9% (France 11.7%, Netherlands 7.4%, Italy 7.5%, UK 7.7%,
    Belgium-Luxembourg 6.6%), EFTA 15.5%, US 7.7%, Eastern Europe 5.2%, OPEC
    3.0% (1993)


Imports:

    $362 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
  Commodities:
    manufactures 75.1%, agricultural products 10.0%, fuels 8.3%, raw materials
    5.0% (1993)
   Major Trade Partners::
    EC 46.4% (France 11.3%, Netherlands 8.4%, Italy 8.1%, UK 6.0%,
    Belgium-Luxembourg 5.7%), EFTA 14.3%, US 7.3%, Japan 6.3%, Eastern Europe
    5.1%, OPEC 2.6% (1993)