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Sierra Leone Economy 1996

    • Overview:
      Sierra Leone has substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, but the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed. Agriculture generates about 40% of GDP and employs about two-thirds of the working population, with subsistence agriculture dominating the sector. 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. Since 1990, the government has been able to meet its IMF- and World Bank-mandated stabilization targets, holding down fiscal deficits, increasing foreign exchange reserves, and retiring much of its domestic debt - but at a steep cost in terms of capital investments and social spending. Moreover, the economic infrastructure has nearly collapsed due to neglect and war-related disruptions in the mining and agricultural export sectors. The continuing civil war in Liberia has led to a large influx of refugees, who place additional burdens on Sierra Leon's fragile economy.

    • National product:
      GDP - purchasing power parity - $4.5 billion (1993 est.)

    • National product real growth rate:
      0.7% (1993 est.)

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

    • Inflation rate (consumer prices):
      22% (1993 est.)

    • Unemployment rate:
      NA%

    • Budget:

        revenues:
        $68 million

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

    • Exports:
      $149 million (f.o.b., 1993)

        commodities:
        rutile 48%, bauxite 25%, diamonds 16%, coffee, cocoa, fish

        partners:
        US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe

    • Imports:
      $149 million (c.i.f., 1993)

        commodities:
        foodstuffs 48%, machinery and equipment 32%, fuels 9%

        partners:
        US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria

    • External debt:
      $1.15 billion (yearend 1993)

    • Industrial production:
      growth rate -1.5% (FY91/92); accounts for 11% of GDP

    • Electricity:

        capacity:
        130,000 kW

        production:
        220 million kWh

        consumption per capita:
        44 kWh (1993)

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

    • Agriculture:
      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 - 617.67 (January 1995), 586.74 (1994), 567.46 (1993), 499.44 (1992), 295.34 (1991), 144.9275 (1990)

    • Fiscal year:
      1 July - 30 June






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