Syrian Arab Republic - Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents (% of GDP) in Syrian Arab Republic was 0.037 as of 2007. Its highest value over the past 37 years was 0.383 in 1975, while its lowest value was 0.000 in 1970.

Definition: Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1970 0.000
1971 0.000
1972 0.000
1973 0.000
1974 0.251
1975 0.383
1976 0.000
1977 0.119
1978 0.000
1979 0.000
1980 0.000
1981 0.000
1982 0.000
1983 0.000
1984 0.000
1985 0.000
1986 0.000
1987 0.000
1988 0.000
1989 0.000
1990 0.000
1991 0.000
1992 0.000
1993 0.000
1994 0.000
1995 0.000
1996 0.000
1997 0.000
1998 0.000
1999 0.000
2000 0.000
2001 0.000
2002 0.000
2003 0.000
2004 0.000
2005 0.000
2006 0.000
2007 0.037

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP