Overview: The economic and social infrastructure is not well developed. Subsistence agriculture dominates the economy, generating about one-third of GDP and employing about two-thirds of the working population. Manufacturing, which accounts for roughly 10% of GDP, consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Diamond mining provides an important source of hard currency. In 1990-93, the government, with the support of the IMF and the World Bank, has made substantial progress toward structural reform and better fiscal management. The government readily met all IMF/WB targets in December 1993. The budget deficit had been dramatically reduced; the government workforce had been cut by 25%; large amounts of domestic debt had been retired; arrears to the IMF, World Bank, and other creditors had been reduced. On the negative side, continued incursions by the Liberian rebels, bandits, and army deserters in southern and eastern Sierra Leone have severely strained the economy and threaten economically critical regions of the country.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $4.5 billion (FY93 est.)

National product real growth rate: NA

National product per capita: $1,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 35% (1992)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $68 million
expenditures: $118 million, including capital expenditures of $28 million (1992 est.)

Exports: $149 million (f.o.b., FY92)
commodities: rutile 51%, bauxite 19%, diamonds 15%, coffee 5%
partners: US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe

Imports: $131 million (c.i.f., FY92)
commodities: foodstuffs 33%, machinery and equipment 19%, fuels 16%
partners: US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria

External debt: $633 million (FY92 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate -1.2% (FY91); accounts for 11% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 85,000 kW
production: 185 million kWh
consumption per capita: 45 kWh (1991)

Industries: mining (diamonds, bauxite, rutile), small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear), petroleum refinery

Agriculture: accounts for over 30% of GDP and two-thirds of the labor force; largely subsistence farming; cash crops - coffee, cocoa, palm kernels; harvests of food staple rice meets 80% of domestic needs; annual fish catch averages 53,000 metric tons

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $161 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $848 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $18 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $101 million

Currency: 1 leone (Le) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: leones (Le) per US$1 - 578.17 (January 1994), 567.46 (1993), 499.44 (1992), 295.34 (1991), 144.9275 (1990), 58.1395 (1989)

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Sierra Leone on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sierra Leone Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sierra Leone Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.