Sierra Leone Economy - 2004

Economy - overview:
Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. It does have substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources. However, the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development, following a 11-year civil war. 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 continue to reopen bauxite and rutile mines shut down during the conflict. The major source of hard currency consists of the mining of diamonds. 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 to supplement government revenues.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.057 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
6.5% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $500 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 49%
industry: 31%
services: 21% (2001 est.)

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.)

Labor force:
1.369 million (1981 est.)

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

Unemployment rate:
NA%

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

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

Industrial production growth rate:
NA% (1997 est.)

Electricity - production:
250.1 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
232.6 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

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

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

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

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

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

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

Exports - partners:
Belgium 41.6%, Germany 31.7%, UK 4%, US 4% (2002)

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

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

Imports - partners:
Germany 26.1%, UK 10.7%, Netherlands 7.5%, US 5.7%, Cote d'Ivoire 4.9%, Italy 4.3% (2002)

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

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

Currency:
leone (SLL)

Currency code:
SLL

Exchange rates:
leones per US dollar - 2,347.94 (2003), 2,099.03 (2002), 1,986.15 (2001), 2,092.12 (2000), 1,804.19 (1999)