| Official
name: |
República de Chile
(Republic of Chile) |
| Head
of State & Head of government: |
President Ricardo Lagos Escobar (CPD)
(from Jan 2000) |
| Ruling party: |
Concertación de Partidos por
la Democracia (CPD) (Coalition of Pro-Democracy Parties)
(centre-left coalition) (re-elected Dec 2001) |
| Area: |
756,626 square km |
| Population: |
15.21 million (2000) |
| Capital: |
Santiago |
| Official language: |
Spanish |
| Currency: |
Chilean peso (CH$) = 100 centavos |
| Exchange rate: |
CH$654.00 per US$ (May 2002) |
| GDP per capita: |
US$4,617 (2000); US$4,170 (2001)* |
| GDP real growth: |
4.40% (2000); 2.8% (2001); 1.5% (year-on-year, first quarter
2002) |
| Unemployment: |
9.20% (2000); 9.2% (2001)* |
| Inflation: |
3.80% (2000); 3.6% (2001); 2.1% (year-on-year, May 2002) |
| Balance of trade: |
US$1.44 billion (2000); US$1.4 billion (2001); US$1.7
billion (12 months to Apr 2002) |
| Foreign debt: |
US$42.47 billion (2000) |
| * estimated figure |
