Salient Features: In 1984 gross domestic product ( GDP-- see Glossary) stood at US$18.1 billion, US$300 per capita at official exchange rate of 12.1 dong to US$1 (actual per capita income is closer to US$200). Produced National Income ( PNI--see Glossary) grew by 2.1 percent in 1987, down from 3.3 percent in 1986.

Agriculture: Major agricultural products produced in 1985: grain (18.2 million tons), sugar (434,000 tons), tea (26,000 tons), coffee (6,000 tons), and rubber (52,000 tons). Agriculture represented 51 percent of PNI.

Industry: Thirty-two percent of PNI in 1985 major industries included electricity (5.4 billion kilowatt hours), coal (60 million tons), steel (57,000 tons), cement (1.4 million tons), cloth (80 million square meters), paper (75,000 tons), fish sauce (174 million liters), and processed sea fish (550,000 tons). Mineral resources included iron ore, tin, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, manganese, titanium, chromite, tungsten, bauxite, apatite, graphite, mica, silica sand, and limestone.

Energy Sources: Timber, coal, offshore oil deposits.

Foreign Trade: Exports totaled US$739.5 million in 1986. Principal exports consisted of coal, rubber, rice, tea, coffee, wood, and marine products. Imports totaled US$2.5 billion in 1986. Principal imports consisted of petroleum products, fertilizers, rice, and steel. In 1986 total debt estimated at nearly US$7.7 billion. According to figures given to International Monetary Fund by Hanoi, from 1981-85 Vietnam's debt to communist bloc countries rose from US$3 billion to more than US$6 billion. Trade deficit with the Soviet Union grew from US$224 million in 1976 to US$1.5 billion in 1986.

Data as of December 1987