Overview: Industry - dominated by the fast-growing apparel industry - has surpassed agriculture as the main source of export earnings and accounts for over 16% of GDP. The economy has been plagued by high rates of unemployment since the late 1970s. Economic growth, which has been depressed by ethnic unrest, accelerated in 1991-93 as domestic conditions began to improve and conditions for foreign investment brightened.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $53.5 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 5% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $3,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11.6% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 15% (1991 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $2.3 billion
expenditures: $3.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.5 billion (1993)

Exports: $2.3 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities: garments and textiles, teas, gems, petroleum products, coconuts, rubber, other agricultural products, marine products, graphite
partners: US 33.4%, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Japan, France, Singapore (1992)

Imports: $3 billion (c.i.f., 1992)
commodities: food and beverages, textiles and textile materials, petroleum and petroleum products, machinery and equipment
partners: Japan, India, US 4.3%, UK, Singapore, Germany, Hong King, Taiwan, South Korea (1991)

External debt: $5.2 billion (1991)

Industrial production: growth rate 7% (1991 est.); accounts for 16.5% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 1,300,000 kW
production: 3.6 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 200 kWh (1992)

Industries: processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco

Agriculture: accounts for one-fourth of GDP and nearly half of labor force; most important staple crop is paddy rice; other field crops - sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseeds, roots, spices; cash crops - tea, rubber, coconuts; animal products - milk, eggs, hides, meat; not self-sufficient in rice production

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-89), $5.1 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $169 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $369 million

Currency: 1 Sri Lankan rupee (SLRe) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: Sri Lankan rupees (SLRes) per US$1 - 49.672 (January 1994), 48.322 (1993), 43.687 (1992), 41.372 (1991), 40.063 (1990), 36.047 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lanka Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sri Lanka Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.