Sierra Leone Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. About two-thirds of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Plans to reopen bauxite and rutile mines shut down during an 11 year civil war have not been implemented due to lack of foreign investment. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. International financial institutions contributed over $600 million in development aid and budgetary support in 2003.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.335 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
6% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $600 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 49%
industry: 30%
services: 21% (2001 est.)

Labor force:
1.369 million (1981 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture NA, industry NA, services NA

Unemployment rate:
NA

Population below poverty line:
68% (1989 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 43.6% (1989)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
62.9 (1989)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1% (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $96 million
expenditures: $351 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2000 est.)

Agriculture - products:
rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish

Industries:
diamonds mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
255.3 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
237.4 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
6,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Exports:
$49 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish (1999)

Exports - partners:
Belgium 63.1%, Germany 11.9%, US 5.8% (2004)

Imports:
$264 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals (1995)

Imports - partners:
Germany 17.3%, UK 9.2%, Cote d'Ivoire 8%, US 8%, Ukraine 4.9%, Netherlands 4.7%, China 4.5%, Denmark 4.2% (2004)

Debt - external:
$1.5 billion (2002 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$103 million (2001 est.)

Currency (code):
leone (SLL)

Exchange rates:
leones per US dollar - 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003), 2,099 (2002), 1,986.2 (2001), 2,092.1 (2000)