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Aprosian People's Democratic Union
E C O N O M Y

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L I B E R T Y,—U N I T Y,—S O C I A L I S M!
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The Economy of the Aprosian People’s Democratic Union is based on a system of federal state ownership and management of the means of production, collectivized farming, industrial manufacturing and federated economic planning. As a socialist economy, the economy of Aprosia is charecterized by state control of investment and economic administration, macroeconomic stability, low unemployment and relatively high job security.

Before the formation of the modern Aprosian People’s Democratic Union, Aprosia existed as a colonial state under the sovereignity of Noronica. Most major enterprises were either under the ownership of the Noronican state or Noronican colonials living in Aprosia. Industrialisation was low and the primary goals of the economy were to provide raw resources and taxation for the Noronican economy. Infrastructural development and economic investment were directed to further assist these goals. After the First Imperial War, Aprosia was de-colonised and received independence and the ownership of the Noronican enterprises were in turn appropriated by the new post-colonial Aprosian military government. These enterprises were either kept by the Aprosian state or gifted to military leaders or associates of the government under nepotism. Both the Aprosian Revolution of 1968 and the subsequent Aprosian Civil War from 1971 to 1978 wrecked the economy and the economic situation in Aprosia would not return to complete normality until after 1986.

The Aprosian economy was gradually collectivized under the leadership of the Aprosian People’s Front and its General Secretary Dimíras Ketséluv, with state ownership of all means of production being declared by the Declaration on the Formation of the Aprosian People’s Democratic Union, a state organized under the Aprosian socialist economy. The economy of the Soviet Union was a key point of inspiration for the new Aprosian leadership and the new state’s economy was organized under centralized planning modeled after the 1965 Kosygin Reforms on the Soviet economy. Reversing the damages of the civil war and the industrialisation of the economy were declared main goals of the First All-Union Five-Year Plan, that was in effect from 1978 until 1983. Through state investment and assistance from other international and regional socialist powers, and despite the Cultural Revolution that cemented the rule of the APF, the first five-year plan of Aprosia was declared a success, with the Second All-Union Five-Year Plan declared to last from 1984 until 1989 and promised the nation to repair the damages of the war.

A change in leadership from the radical Héžin to the more liberal Menán brough uncertainty in the second five-year plan, as did the on-going collapse of the Soviet Union and other socialist states in the Isles. Despite the change in leadership, the second five-year plan was allowed to be finished in 1989, before the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. With subsidies ending from the world’s largest socialist power, the economic planning was federalised to allow the federal subjects of the Union more power in economic decision making and officially to make the economic planning much more accurate when directed from the federal states. Economic investment was also liberalized and as such, the first co-operatives with foreign states and companies first emerged during the Third All-Union Five-Year Plan, the first of the five-year plans under the modern economic structure. Economic stagnation however characterized the last decade of the 20th century and by the new millenia, economic planning started to favour consumer products over the massive investments in the heavy industrial sector. With a period of growth during 2000s, economic mismanagement, corruption and foreign sanctions on the economy began to damage the condition of the economy and economic growth by the 2010s, with continued stagnation dominating the following decade.

The industrial sector dominates the economy in terms of production, share from the gross domestic product and the amount of labour force in the economic sector. Products of heavy industry and mining constitute the largest exports of Aprosia and the majority of the consumer industrial goods are instead kept within the country. With mineral wealth, raw minerals also constitute one of the largest export items of Aprosia. Aprosia has large deposits including, but not limited to, of iron ore, coal, aluminium and copper. Agriculture is the second largest sector of the economy by the amount of labour force used and produces different sub-tropical products in the coastal areas of the country, where most agriculture is located in, while the inland areas produce other various agricultural products. Under the socialist economy, the service sector by the amount of labour is the smallest and officially consists of state-owned service providers.

Many experts conclude that a second economy has progressively grown during the last years and has flourished under the economic stagnation as people strive to find goods and services not supplied by the state either temporarily or permanently. Corruption in the economic management and administration alongside smuggling and self-employment creates supply for products not available or hard to get in the official economy. In the recent years, while sentences for economic corruption has grown, the Aprosian state has apparently taken a softer stance against the second economy of Aprosia. Due to the unknown size of the second market, the exact size of the Aprosian economy is hard to estimate but the Aprosian state officially reports a gross domestic product of $586.3 billion, close to the unofficial observer estimations on the size of the official economy.

Economy by Sectors

Industrial Manufacturing

For most of its history and continuing to this day, the industrial sector of the economy is considered vital by the Aprosian People’s Democratic Union. The industrial economic sector constitutes the largest sector of the economy in terms of gross domestic product and labour force used. Despite attempts to divert more funds and labour force in the consumer industry, heavy industry continues to be the largest economic sector within the industrial sector.

Starting with the First All-Union Five-Year Plan, the strive for economic modernization by the Aprosian People’s Front required the industrialisation of the country, using the vast mineral wealth of the country to provide raw resources for the growing industrial sector. Heavy industry was the second largest target of state-funds after repairing the nation’s war-time damages during the first five-year plan and eventually surpassed it, to become the largest target of state-funds in the Second All-Union Five-Year Plan. Foreign subsidies into the economy by other international socialist powers allowed a significant industrial sector by the collapse of the Soviet Union and continued funding for the heavy industry has continued in all of the later five-year plans.

As with other socialist economics, the consumer industry was heavily undervalued during the first two five-year plans and only gained prominence in the federal economic investment during the Third All-Union Five-Year Plan, with the collapse of Aprosia’s largest trading partners. Beneficial trade with the Comecon and the UCCR ceased with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the official state policy on economy shifted to import substitution in consumer goods, most of which Aprosia had imported in change for heavily industrial products. Subsequently with the legislation permitting the creation of co-operatives with foreign states and companies, the consumer industry received the most funding, with heavy industry following, in all of the later federal five-year plans

By 2019, the industrial sector constituted a total of 48.6% of the official national gross domestic product or $284.9 billion. A total of 8.5 million people, or 41.2% of the labour force, are employed by the industrial sector.

Power and Energy

The Aprosian economy faced a minor energy crisis during the economic stagnation of the 1990s as the country was forced to seize purchasing oil and other resources vital for the power sector with the ‘friendship prices’ it was able to buy from the Comecon and the UCCR. With it, the country was forced to expand trade with other nations to import oil and to expand the native coal mining to develop a more self-sufficient power sector. Continuing to this day, coal and oil are the largest sources of power generation, followed by nuclear power. Ecological power sources are not developed to a significant degree.

On average, Aprosia has a per capita electricity consumption of 1,628 kilowatts and a total consumption of 59.13 terawatts‬. With a total electricity production of 54.42 terawatts, an approximate of 78.2% of the total power produced in Aprosia is produced using either coal or oil.

Agriculture

Most agriculture in Aprosia is done in the sub-tropical coastal areas of the country, with limited amounts in the inland areas of the country. With the sub-tropical climate in the coast, agriculture has historically been an important source of income of the people living there, Aprosia has a long history of agriculture. In modern day Aprosia, most agricultural production has been collectivized around existing villages.

Finance

The finance sector in the country is heavily regulated, with the Central Bank of Aprosia and its subsidiaries being the only legally allowed banks in the country. Despite the majority of the population being Muslim, Islamic banking is not done by the Central Bank and the bank acts akin to other banks in socialist countries. Alongside controlling the national currency, the Aprosian Márk, the Central Bank’s subsidiaries are responsible for offering loans to state enterprises and Aprosian nationals.

While not allowed to act independently in the country, Aprosia maintains small service counters of foreign banks under the supervision of the Central Bank’s foreign exchange office for tourists and visitors. Foreign currency in the ownership of Aprosian nationals is not allowed and all visitors have to exchange a certain amount of their currency into the Aprosian Márk when visiting the country.

Exports and Imports

Due to strained relations and foreign sanctions placed on the country, foreign trade constitutes a lower than average part of Aprosia’s gross domestic product. Foreign trade with other socialist countries is still considered important by the country, but with the fall of the Comecon and the UCCR, has fallen significantly. As such, most of the foreign trade is done either through maintaining a stable export-import balance with a country or through hard currency, especially in federal exports, due to the status of the national currency, the Aprosian Márk. All of the foreign trade of Aprosia is subject to the trade monopoly of the Council of Federal Economic Affairs, while individual enterprises can request additional trade from the Council due to various reasons.

In 2018, the Aprosia's exports totalled $86 billion. Imports totalled $92 billion, creating an approximate $6 billion deficit on foreign trade. In total, the exports constitute a total of 14.6% of the national gross domestic product and the imports a total of 15.6% of the GDP.

Economic Planning

Based on the socialist concept of state ownership, the national economy was administered by the Council of Federal Economic Affairs, a collection of government committees responsible for the administration of the economy and the federal economic planning. Such committees include the Committee of Federal Infrastructure responsible for the transportation infrastructure of Aprosia, the Committee of State Finances responsible for the national Central Bank and the national currency, Committees for the three primary sectors of the economy, the Committee of Federal Economical Information and the Committee of Federal Economic Planning, responsible for the information vital to the economic planning and the creation of the federal economic plan. The latter two are based on the same planning and information committees of the federal subjects and compile the final information needed for the economic plan and the compiling the economic plan itself. While the Committee of Federal Economical Information and the Committee of Federal Economic Planning are responsible for the plan itself, the other mentioned federal Committees are responsible for the administration of their responsible sector of the economy. Many are further subdivided into offices responsible for individual sectors. The entirety of the Council of Federal Economic Affairs is represented in the Federal Government of Aprosia by the Chairman of the Council of Federal Economic Affairs.

Additionally, all State and Federal City government ministries responsible for the economy of the federal subject are modeled after the Council of Federal Economic Affairs. Under this system, the Council of Federal Economic Affairs acts more as a government organ designed to compile the plans and the information of the federal subjects to suit the entire Union and to supervise the economic administration and planning of the federal subjects and intervene when necessary.

The economic plans themselves were divided into two parts; the yearly economic plans designed to direct necessary funds, capital and labour to sustain the Aprosian nation and the five-year plans, compiled of the yearly economic plans for guidance, designed to direct investment in the economy. Under both economic plans, the plans declare advisory prices for goods and services for the federal subjects and enterprises to implement, give the necessary funding and if necessary, direct the local labour force either within the economic sector or within the local area. Both parts of the economic plan were the responsibility of the Committee of Federal Economical Information and the Committee of Federal Economic Planning, who received the economic information and the draft of the federal subject’s economic plan from the federal subjects themselves.

Economic corruption and economic mismanagement, either intentional or accidental, have caused and continue to cause problems with the economic planning and implementation of the economic plan. While criticism, additional information and other forms of input from the producer or the consumer are allowed and, in many cases supported, but many producers have refused to hand in any of these to the plan in the hopes of positive feedback from the state on being able to follow the plan or in some cases, to allow corruption to happen. Consumer feedback on the quality or quantity of the products are oftenly not heard or acted upon when the producers claim the economic plan to be in full motion and without problems. Lack of products or low quality of said products has caused smuggling in the second economy and to keep up the facade, many producers have developed an informal system of bartering of products or raw resources.

Creation of the Economic Plan

The economic plans integrate nearly all matters of national economics into a law proposed by the Federal Government and passed by the Supreme People’s Assembly, but instead of direct orders that the different economic committees can give, the economic plan itself contains a series of guidelines that the committees of the federal subjects and the enterprises will follow. When drafting both yearly economic plans and five-year plans, the previous plans, alongside criticism and additional feedback from the consumers or producers, can be used as models to repair what was not correct in the previous plan and to use those parts that worked again. Both of the plans are to be reviewed by the last Supreme People’s Assembly gathering of the year. As the five-year plans last a year longer than a single parliamentary term, the next Supreme People’s Assembly will review the effects of the previous five-year plan.

In order to compile the next economic plan, the Committees of Economical Information of each individual must gather necessary information of the economy in the federal subject for the next economic plan. Once the necessary information has been gathered, the Council of Economic Affairs of the federal subject declares the preliminary plan targets, one of the three basic constructs of the federal subject’s economic plan alongside the necessary economic information. With the two of three basic constructs of the economic plan gathered, the economic plan is moved to the Committee of Economic Planning of the federal subject which takes the responsibility for drafting the economic plan, negotiating with the enterprises on the economic plan and compiling the final draft of the economic plan to be sent to the Council of Federal Economic Affairs to be be drafted into an All-Union economic plan. Due to the size of the country and the economy, all of the Committees of Economic Planning are further subdivided into departments responsible for smaller sectors of the economy, such as machinebuilding, coal and iron. The final draft of the economic plan of the federal subject includes the necessary capital, resources and funding for all of the economic sectors in the federal subject.

The Council of Federal Economic Affairs, more specifically the Committee of Federal Economical Information and the Committee of Federal Economic Planning, must review the provided economic information and the final drafts of the economic plans of the federal subjects to suit the needs of the entire nation. If the final drafts do not suit the needs of the nation, the Committee of Federal Economic Planning must conduct further negotiations with the respective federal subject or subjects and the responsible enterprises on further changes to the final draft of the economic plan of the federal subject and for the draft of the federal economic plan. Once ready, the Supreme People’s Assembly will review the federal economic plan and the assembly of the federal subject will review the final draft of the economic plan of the federal subject. All passing the economic plan into law will mean that the economic plan is approved by all required decision making bodies and will be followed in the following period.