The 2008 CIA World Factbook, United States. Central Intelligence Agency [primary phonics books .TXT] 📗

is seeking to pass laws to
  strengthen its economy. This legislation includes a hydrocarbon law
  to establish a modern legal framework to allow Iraq to develop its
  resources and a revenue sharing law to equitably divide oil revenues
  within the nation, although both are still bogged down in
  discussions. The Central Bank has been successful in controlling
  inflation through appreciation of the dinar against the US dollar.
  Reducing corruption and implementing structural reforms, such as
  bank restructuring and developing the private sector, will be key to
  Iraq's economic success.

Ireland
  Ireland is a small, modern, trade-dependent economy with
  growth averaging 6% in 1995-2007. Agriculture, once the most
  important sector, is now dwarfed by industry and services. Although
  the exports sector, dominated by foreign multinationals, remains a
  key component of Ireland's economy, construction has most recently
  fueled economic growth along with strong consumer spending and
  business investment. Property prices have risen more rapidly in
  Ireland in the decade up to 2006 than in any other developed world
  economy. Per capita GDP is 40% above that of the four big European
  economies and the second highest in the EU behind Luxembourg, and in
  2007 surpassed that of the United States. The Irish Government has
  implemented a series of national economic programs designed to curb
  price and wage inflation, invest in infrastructure, increase labor
  force skills, and promote foreign investment. A slowdown in the
  property market, more intense global competition, and increased
  costs, however, have compelled government economists to lower
  Ireland's growth forecast slightly for 2008. Ireland joined in
  circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU
  nations.

Isle of Man
  Offshore banking, manufacturing, and tourism are key
  sectors of the economy. The government offers incentives to
  high-technology companies and financial institutions to locate on
  the island; this has paid off in expanding employment opportunities
  in high-income industries. As a result, agriculture and fishing,
  once the mainstays of the economy, have declined in their shares of
  GDP. The Isle of Man also attracts online gambling sites and the
  film industry. Trade is mostly with the UK. The Isle of Man enjoys
  free access to EU markets.

Israel
  Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with
  substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It
  depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military
  equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively
  developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20
  years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain but is largely
  self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds,
  high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and
  vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable
  trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from
  abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's
  external debt is owed to the US, its major source of economic and
  military aid. Israel's GDP, after contracting slightly in 2001 and
  2002 due to the Palestinian conflict and troubles in the
  high-technology sector, has grown by about 5% per year since 2003.
  The economy grew an estimated 5.4% in 2007, the fastest pace since
  2000. The government's prudent fiscal policy and structural reforms
  over the past few years have helped to induce strong foreign
  investment, tax revenues, and private consumption, setting the
  economy on a solid growth path.

Italy
  Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the
  same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This
  capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial
  north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed,
  welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with 20% unemployment. Most
  raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy
  requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a
  tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the
  Economic and Monetary Unions and has benefited from lower interest
  and inflation rates. The current government has enacted numerous
  short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term
  growth. Italy has moved slowly, however, on implementing needed
  structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and
  overhauling Italy's rigid labor market and over-generous pension
  system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from
  labor unions. But the leadership faces a severe economic constraint:
  Italy's official debt remains above 100% of GDP, and the government
  has found it difficult to bring the budget deficit down to a level
  that would allow a rapid decrease in that debt. The economy
  continues to grow by less than the euro-zone average and growth is
  expected to decelerate from 1.9% in 2006 and 2007 to under 1.5% in
  2008 as the euro-zone and world economies slow.

Jamaica
  The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which
  now account for more than 60% of GDP. The country continues to
  derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and
  bauxite/alumina. Remittances account for nearly 20% of GDP and are
  equivalent to tourism revenues. Jamaica's economy, already saddled
  with a record of sluggish growth, will suffer an economic setback
  from damages caused by Hurricane Dean in August 2007. The economy
  faces serious long-term problems: high but declining interest rates,
  increased foreign competition, exchange rate instability, a sizable
  merchandise trade deficit, large-scale unemployment and
  underemployment, and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 135%. Jamaica's onerous
  debt burden - the fourth highest per capita - is the result of
  government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most notably
  the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s. Inflation also has
  declined, standing at about 7% at the end of 2007. High unemployment
  exacerbates the serious crime problem, including gang violence that
  is fueled by the drug trade. The GOLDING administration faces the
  difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order
  to maintain debt payments while simultaneously attacking a serious
  and growing crime problem that is hampering economic growth.

Jan Mayen
  Jan Mayen is a volcanic island with no exploitable natural
  resources. Economic activity is limited to providing services for
  employees of Norway's radio and meteorological stations on the
  island.

Japan Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most technologically powerful economy in the world after the US and the third-largest economy in the world after the US and China, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. One notable characteristic of the economy has been how manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors have worked together in closely-knit groups called keiretsu. A second basic feature has been the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force. Both features have now eroded. Japan's industrial sector is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The tiny agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the world. Usually self sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 55% of its food on a caloric basis. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades, overall real economic growth had been spectacular - a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s, averaging just 1.7%, largely because of the after effects of overinvestment and an asset price bubble during the late 1980s that required a protracted period of time for firms to reduce excess debt, capital, and labor. From 2000 to 2001, government efforts to revive economic growth proved short lived and were hampered by the slowing of the US, European, and Asian economies. In 2002-07, growth improved and the lingering fears of deflation in prices and economic activity lessened, leading the central bank to raise interest rates to 0.25% in July 2006, up from the near 0% rate of the six years prior, and to 0.50% in February 2007. In addition, the 10-year privatization of Japan Post, which has functioned not only as the national postal delivery system but also, through its banking and insurance facilities as Japan's largest financial institution, was completed in October 2007, marking a major milestone in the process of structural reform. Nevertheless, Japan's huge government debt, which totals 182% of GDP, and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems. Some fear that a rise in taxes could endanger the current economic recovery. Debate also continues on the role of and effects of reform in restructuring the economy, particularly with respect to increasing income disparities.

Jersey
  Jersey's economy is based on international financial
  services, agriculture, and tourism. In 2005 the finance sector
  accounted for about 50% of the island's output. Potatoes,
  cauliflower, tomatoes, and especially flowers are important export
  crops, shipped mostly to the UK. The Jersey breed of dairy cattle is
  known worldwide and represents an important export income earner.
  Milk products go to the UK and other EU countries. Tourism accounts
  for one-quarter of GDP. In recent years, the government has
  encouraged light industry to locate in Jersey, with the result that
  an electronics industry has developed alongside the traditional
  manufacturing of knitwear. All raw material and energy requirements
  are imported, as well as a large share of Jersey's food needs. Light
  taxes and death duties make the island a popular tax haven. Living
  standards come close to those of the UK.

Jordan
  Jordan is a small Arab country with insufficient supplies of
  water, oil, and other natural resources. Poverty, unemployment, and
  inflation are fundamental problems, but King ABDALLAH II, since
  assuming the throne in 1999, has undertaken some broad economic
  reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards. Since
  Jordan's graduation from its most recent IMF program in 2002, Amman
  has continued to follow IMF guidelines, practicing careful monetary
  policy, making substantial headway with privatization, and opening
  the trade regime. Jordan's exports have significantly increased
  under the free trade accord with the US and Jordanian Qualifying
  Industrial Zones (QIZ), which allow Jordan to export goods duty free
  to the US. In 2006, Jordan reduced its debt-to-GDP ratio
  significantly. These measures have helped improve productivity and
  have made Jordan more attractive for foreign investment. Before the
  US-led war in Iraq, Jordan imported most of its oil from Iraq. Since
  2003, however, Jordan has been more dependent on oil from other Gulf
  nations. The government ended subsidies for petroleum and other
  consumer goods in 2008 in an effort to control the budget. The main
  challenges facing Jordan are reducing dependence on foreign grants,
  reducing the budget deficit, attracting investments, and creating
  jobs.

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 8% or more per year in 2002-07 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. Inflation, however, jumped to more than 10% in 2007. In the energy sector, the opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. In 2006 Kazakhstan completed the Atasu-Alashankou portion of an oil pipeline to China that is planned in future construction to extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing its manufacturing potential. The policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel. The government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements; tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2007 due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows. Aided by strong growth and foreign exchange earnings, Kazakhstan aspires to become a regional financial center and has created a banking system comparable to those in Central Europe.