Economy - overview:
Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure has yet to recover from the civil war, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half 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. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. 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 supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation and in 2010 approved a new program worth $45 million over three years. Political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining, which are set to benefit from planned tax incentives. A number of offshore oil discoveries were announced in 2009 and 2010. The development on these reserves, which could be significant, is still several years away.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Budget: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Oil - proved reserves: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Debt - external: Exchange rates:
NOTE: The information regarding Sierra Leone on this page is re-published from the 2011 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sierra Leone Economy 2011 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sierra Leone Economy 2011 should be addressed to the CIA.
$4.812 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 161
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP (purchasing power parity) country ranks ]
$1.901 billion (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
5.2% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 54
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$900 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 222
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 49%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
31%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services:
21% (2005 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
2.207 million (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 115
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: NA%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
NA%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services:
NA%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
NA%
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
70.2% (2004)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 2.6%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%:
33.6% (2003)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
62.9 (1989)
country comparison to the world: 5
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
revenues: $96 million
[see also: Budget - revenues country ranks ]
expenditures:
$351 million (2000 est.)
[see also: Budget - expenditures country ranks ]
11.7% (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 206
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
NA%
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
NA% (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$209.4 million (31 December 2009)
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$437 million (31 December 2009)
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$178.4 million (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 176
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish
diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair
NA%
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
80 million kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 195
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
74.4 million kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 195
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
0 kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
29 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
9,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 154
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
502 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 126
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
8,316 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 144
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 123
[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 131
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 179
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 126
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 132
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 135
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$63 million (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 71
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$216 million (2006)
country comparison to the world: 180
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish
Belgium 26.56%, US 11.87%, Netherlands 7.91%, UK 7.4%, India 6.67%, Cote d'Ivoire 6.13%, Greece 4.05% (2009)
$560 million (2006)
country comparison to the world: 187
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals
South Africa 14.61%, China 7.58%, US 5.87%, Cote d'Ivoire 5.65%, India 5.19%, Malaysia 5.19%, France 5.08%, UK 4.48%, Netherlands 4.06% (2009)
$1.61 billion (2003 est.)
country comparison to the world: 143
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
leones (SLL) per US dollar - NA (2007), 2,961.7 (2006), 2,889.6 (2005), 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003)
This page was last modified 09-Feb-11