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 accounts for less than 10% of GDP, consisting mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Diamond mining provides an important source of hard currency. The economy suffers from high unemployment, rising inflation, large trade deficits, and a growing dependency on foreign assistance.

GDP: $965 million, per capita $250; real growth rate 1.8% (FY87)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 167.1% (FY87)

Unemployment rate: 12% (1987)

Budget: revenues $98.5 million; expenditures $181.6 million, including capital expenditures of $45.4 million (FY87)

Exports: $129 million (f.o.b., 1987); @m5commodities--diamonds 20%, cocoa 20%, rutile 21%, bauxite 17%, coffee; @m5partners--US, UK, Netherlands, FRG, other West Europe

Imports: $137 million (c.i.f., 1987); @m5commodities--capital goods 40%, food 32%, petroleum 15%, consumer goods 7%, light industrial goods; @m5partners--US, EC, Japan, China

External debt: $895 million (1988)

Industrial production: growth rate 13.4% (FY87)

Electricity: 65,000 kW capacity; 116 million kWh produced, 30 kWh per capita (1988)

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

Agriculture: palm kernels, coffee, cocoa, rice, yams, millet, ginger, cassava; much of cultivated land devoted to subsistence farming; food crops insufficient for domestic consumption

Aid: NA

Currency: leone (plural--leones); 1 leone (Le) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: leones per US$1--39.0625 (December 1988), 31.2500 (1988), 30.7692 (1987), 8.3963 (1986), 4.7304 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Sierra Leone on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sierra Leone Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sierra Leone Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.