| ACP |
African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States |
| ANCOM |
Andean Community |
| APEC |
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation |
| APTA |
Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (Former Bangkok Agreement) |
| ASEAN |
Association of South-East Asian Nations |
| BPM |
Balance of Payments Manual (IMF) |
| BSEC |
Black Sea Economic Cooperation |
| CACM |
Central American Common Market |
| CARICOM |
Caribbean Community  |
| CEMAC |
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (formerly UDEAC) |
| CEPGL |
Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries |
| c.i.f. |
cost, insurance and freight |
| CIS |
Commonwealth of Independent States |
| COMESA |
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (formerly PTA) |
| DAC |
Development Assistance Committee (of OECD) |
| DRS |
Debtor Reporting System |
| ECCAS |
Economic Community of Central African States |
| ECE |
Economic Commission for Europe |
| ECLAC |
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean |
| ECO |
Economic Cooperation Organisation |
| ECOWAS |
Economic Community of West African States |
| EFTA |
European Free Trade Association |
| ESCAP |
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific |
| ESCWA |
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia |
| EU |
European Union |
| excl. |
Excluding |
| FAO |
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations |
| FDI |
foreign direct investment |
| f.o.b. |
free on board |
| FTAA |
Free Trade Area of the Americas |
| GATS |
General Agreement on Trade in Services |
| GCC |
Gulf Cooperation Council |
| GDP |
gross domestic product |
| GFCF |
gross fixed capital formation |
| GNP |
gross national product |
| HIPC |
heavily indebted poor countries |
| HS |
Harmonized System |
| ILO |
International Labour Organisation |
| IMF |
International Monetary Fund |
| LAIA |
Latin American Integration Association |
| LDC |
least developed countries |
| MERCOSUR |
Mercado Comāšn Sudamericano |
| MFN |
most favoured nation |
| MRU |
Mano River Union |
| MSG |
Melanesia Spearhead Group |
| NAFTA |
North American Free Trade Agreement |
| n.e.s. |
not elsewhere specified |
| NIE |
newly industrialized economies |
| n.i.e. |
not included elsewhere |
| NPISHs |
non-profit institutions serving households |
| OA |
official aid |
| ODA |
official development assistance |
| OECD |
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development |
| OECS |
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States |
| OOF |
other official flows |
| OPEC |
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries |
| SAARC |
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation |
| SADC |
Southern African Development Community |
| SAR |
Special Administrative Region |
| SDR |
special drawing rights |
| SFR |
Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (former) |
| SIDS |
Small island developing States |
| SITC |
Standard International Trade Classification |
| TFYR |
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia |
| TNC |
transnational corporation |
| UMA |
Arab Maghreb Union |
| UNAIDS |
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS |
| UNCTAD |
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |
| UN/DESA/SD |
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division |
| UNDP |
United Nations Development Programme |
| UNESCO |
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation |
| UNICEF |
United Nations Childrenīs Fund |
| UNWTO |
World Tourism Organization |
| USSR |
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
| WAEMU |
West African Economic and Monetary Union |
| WHO |
World Health Organization |
| WITS |
World Trade Integrated System |
| WTO |
World Trade Organization |
Unless otherwise specified, country aggregates are the sums of the relevant country data by group. Calculations of aggregates may in some cases include data estimated by the UNCTAD secretariat that are not necessarily all reported separately.
Because of rounding, details and percentages in tables do not necessarily add up to totals.
Data were collected and checked to ensure that they matched the geographical coverage of the countries, as described at the beginning of the Handbook. However, some gaps could not be avoided due to data unavailability and are described in the notes at the end tables.
Unless otherwise stated, dollars ($) refer to United States dollars and data in dollars are expressed in current United States dollars of the year to which they refer.
Average annual growth rates are defined as the coefficient b in the exponential trend function y = aebt where t stands for time. This method takes all observations in a period into account. Therefore, the resulting growth rates reflect trends that are not unduly influenced by exceptional values.
