Economy of Crystal Spires

Economy of Crystal Spires
The Open Market in Vierenspire
Currency	Spirean Signet (CSS)
Fiscal year	calendar year
Statistics
GDP	$6.35 trillion
GDP growth	-0.7% (2011-2012)
GDP per capita	$25,409(PPP)
GDP by sector	Primary: 6.6%; Secondary: 50.8%; Tertiary: 42.6%
Inflation (CPI)	2.0%
Population below poverty line	9.2%
Labour force	169,250,000
Labour force by occupation	agriculture: 12.7%, industry: 46.7%, services: 40.6%
Unemployment	6.1%
Average gross salary	§36,483.44($19,068) yearly (2012)
Main industries	Magitechnology; Industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment
External
Exports	$2.189 billion (2012 est.)
Export goods	Electrical and other machinery, including data processing equipment, coffee, bananas, oranges, tea, sugar, rice, crude oil, chemical products, clothing and textiles, vegetables, textiles, iron and steel, brewing, tourism
Main export partners	Greater Pony Herd, Kouralia, Muffinvania, The Ctan, Legokiller, Riemaia
Internal
Imports	$13.8 billion (2012 est.)
Imported goods	Wheat, fruits and vegetables, Armaments, Ships, Telephones, Cigarettes, Automatic data processing machinery and equipment, fuels, mineral products, chemical products, vehicles and transport materials, plastic materials and products.
Main Import partners	Greater Pony Herd, Licana, Kouralia,Cantalvia, Imeriata,Menelmacar, Muffinvania, The Ctan Legokiller Riemaia

Economic activity in Crystal Spires has traditionally been based on agriculture and the breeding of livestock. Crystal Spires also has extensive mineral deposits: limestone, thorium, antimony, natural graphite, tungsten, and zinc. Other major minerals are aluminum, bauxite, crude petroleum, diamonds, gold, iron ore, lead, magnetite, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, natural gas, phosphate rock, tin, vanadium, adamantium, khyber, mithril, Nenya's ember, runestone, and orichalcon which account for a large part of industrial production. While Mechanized Labor took off in the post-Imperial revolution, it was a more recent phenomenon which has caused the Spirean economy to race to the top. While initial numbers showed indicators of the market success GDP, disappeared almost overnight in the war with New Freedomstan, which indicate that the numbers may have been inflated. After the war with New Freedomstan. Crystal Spires has been driven into deep recession, which was prolonged by the Liberal Unity Party's reluctance to undertake serious economic reform. The Council Communist Party(CCP), has recently embraced regulated market economics, easing price controls, liberalizing domestic and international trade, and attempting to restructure the banking system and the energy sector of Crystal Spires. Major domestic privatization programs have been undertaken, as well as fostering of foreign direct investment through international tender of the oil distribution company and Mithril investments and banks. Reform has been held back by the far left opposition of hardline Mythorians and by the political instability brought about through the four successive wars under the CCP Control. Economic growth picked up after stalling due to a stalling of market confidence followed by increases in world prices of Mithril.

Communist Closed Fist to Open Hand

After the revolution most of the Heavy Industries were nationalized and were in the urban centers and pockets, while the rural areas focused more on agriculture and mining. The Spirean banks were nationalized into a single one and the government has heavy regulation on all trades. There was heavy price standardization in all industries which were made and decided in workers councils which was responsible for Crystal Spire's low unemployment rate and almost negligible percentage below the poverty line. Businesses were Organized into Unions and more specialized worker's councils, in which democratically appointed heads set standardized systems of weights and measures, standardized pricing, and set business standards and regulations.

As of 2012, Crystal Spires had a rising economy. However, Crystal Spires 2010 nominal GDP which was originally NSD $37,254 per capita fell to about $25,409 NSD which puts it way behind its original indicators of prosperity. in global GDP per capita rankings. PPP GDP reached $6.35 trillion, corresponding to its new per capita. In 2009, Crystal Spires's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries contributed 6.6%, 50.8%, and 42.6% respectively to its total GDP.

From its founding in 1997 until late 2012, the Beastling States of Crystal Spires was a Soviet-style centrally planned economy, without private businesses or capitalism. To propel the country towards a modern, industrialized communist society, Maven Auryn instituted the Open Hand in early 2011 although this had decidedly mixed economic results. Economic reform moved towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party regulation. Collectivization of the agriculture was dismantled and farmlands were privatized to increase productivity. Today Spires is mainly characterized as having a market economy with mild to moderate government regulation.

Under the Open Hand market reforms, a wide variety of small-scale private enterprises were encouraged, while the government relaxed price controls and promoted foreign investment. Foreign trade was focused upon as a major vehicle of growth, leading to the creation of free trade pacts. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured by introducing new management systems, with unprofitable ones being closed outright, resulting in job losses. By the latter part of 2012, Crystal Spires is reversing some of its economic liberalization initiatives, with state-owned companies buying up independent businesses.

Spirean Economic success has been primarily due to manufacturing as a low-cost producer. This is attributed to a combination of cheap labor, decent infrastructure, and relatively high productivity, favorable government policy, and a possibly undervalued exchange rate. The latter has been sometimes blamed for Spire's trade surpluses. The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" industries (such as energy and heavy industries), but private enterprise (composed of around 50 thousand private businesses) has expanded.

The Crystal Spires New Freedomstani War

The rapid political changes of 2011-2012 marked the beginning of Crystal Spires efforts to develop a market economy, but these efforts have been complicated and disrupted by the dissolution and continuing deterioration of the Infrastructure. Prior to 2011, Spires was entering a wave of rapidly expanding prosperity and changing its focus from the internal market to exporting. Spires was heavily dependent upon the High Treefolk for fuel, food, medicine, and spare parts for its factories and power plants.

High Treefolk also served as the primary market for Spirean industry. In the end of 2011, Crystal Spires's industrial sector became increasingly important. By December, it accounted for an estimated 34% of material products, compared to 18% from agriculture. However, minerals, animals, and animal-derived products still constitute a large proportion of the country's exports. Principal imports included weapons and armaments, food products, and medicine.

In late 2012, the government began to improve links with non-communist nations, and tourism in Crystal Spires is beginning to develop. As of 10 November 2012, Spires has begun a major aid campaign and marked economic reform, and has agreed to conduct bilateral trade in hard currency at world prices.

Despite its external and internal trade difficulties, Spires has continued to press ahead with reform. Privatization of small shops and enterprises has largely been completed in the end of 2011, and most prices have been freed. Privatization of large state enterprises has begun. Tax reforms also have begun, and the barter and official exchange rates were unified in late 2012.

Crystal Spire's rapid economic growth and subsequent wars have contributed to some consumer inflation, causing the prices of basic goods to rise steeply. Food prices in Crystal Spires increased by over 21% in the first four months of the conflict alone. To curb inflation and moderately falling property prices, the Spirean High Council has instituted a number of fiscal regulations and amendments, raising interest rates and imposing limits on bank loans. In August 2012, consumer prices rose by 6.1% compared to a year earlier, marking a reduction in inflation from the peak of 6.5% in June 2012. A side-effect of increased economic regulation was a slowdown in overall growth Spire's quarterly GDP growth fell in August 2012 and given a manufacturing slowdown and increasing turmoil in labor shortages, the Spirean economy lost a significant amount of growth. The Spirean economy is less energy-intensive and efficient—on average, industrial processes in Spires using between 20% and 100% less energy than similar ones in Mystrian countries, and has highly green energy policies to protect vulnerable people in the Spirean Demographics.

In Early 2011, Crystal Spires had suffered triple-digit inflation, rising unemployment, shortages of basic goods, and food rationing. During this period, economic output contracted by one-third. As market reforms and private enterprise took hold, economic growth began again in late. Unfortunately, since this growth was fueled in part by over-allocation of bank credit, especially to the remaining state-owned enterprises, economic growth was accompanied by a severe weakening of the banking sector. GDP grew by about 6% in late 2012, thanks largely to a boom in Mithril and Oil prices. Average real economic growth leveled off to about 3.5% in due to worsening commodity prices.

Spires's gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell again 1.2%. The decline can be attributed to the loss of livestock to megafauna and the rice blight. Prospects for agricultural development became constrained by Spires's fauna infestation which caused a lack of basic infrastructure and farmer's and transport worker's strikes. Since the end of the war, more than 30 foreign companies from many pony lands countries, Allanean and Herdite Project OPLAN Mercy Cloak as well as C'tani Investments which have invested a total of $6.3 trillion in Crystal Spires. Speculators estimate that by 2013 private companies may make up 60% of Spirean GDP and 70% of exports, and this has sparked many local protests against market Liberalization and loss of party confidence.

Breakdown by Sector

Primary

• Agriculture
• Fishing
• Forestry
• Mining
• Fauna Hunting

Secondary

• Manufacturing (Electronics, Household Goods Automobile etc)
• Refining

Tertiary

• Retail
• Tourism
• Government Services
• Transport
• Logistics
• Financials Services
• Professional Services