Sierra Leone--Economy
CIA FactbookThe World Factbook 1993: Sierra Leone Economy

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. The economy suffers from high unemployment, rising inflation, large trade deficits, and a growing dependency on foreign assistance. The government in 1990 was attempting to get the budget deficit under control and, in general, to bring economic policy in line with the recommendations of the IMF and the World Bank. Since March 1991, however, military incursions by Liberian rebels in southern and eastern Sierra Leone have severely strained the economy and have undermined efforts to institute economic reforms.

National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $1.4 billion (FY92 est.)

National product real growth rate: -1% (FY92 est.)

National product per capita: $330 (FY92 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (1992)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $68 million; expenditures $118 million, including capital expenditures of $28 million (FY92 est.)

Exports: $75 million (f.o.b., FY92 est.) commodities: rutile 50%, bauxite 17%, cocoa 11%, diamonds 3%, coffee 3% partners: US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe Imports: $62 million (c.i.f., FY92 est.) commodities: capital goods 40%, food 32%, petroleum 12%, consumer goods 7%, light industrial goods partners: US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria

External debt: $633 million (FY92 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity: 85,000 kW capacity; 185 million kWh produced, 45 kWh per capita (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: 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 - 552.43 (January 1993), 499.44 (1992), 295.34 (1991), 144.9275 (1990), 58.1395 (1989), 31.2500 (1988)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June