Economy - overview Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. It does have substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources. However, the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development, following a 10-year civil war. About two-thirds 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. There are plans to reopen bauxite and rutile mines shut down during the conflict. The major source of hard currency consists of the mining of diamonds. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad.

GDP purchasing power parity - $2.7 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 3% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $500 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 43%
industry: 27%
services: 30% (2000)

Population below poverty line 68% (1989 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 43.6% (1989)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 62.9 (1989)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 15% (2000 est.)

Labor force 1.369 million (1981 est.)
note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%

Unemployment rate NA%

Budget
revenues: $96 million
expenditures: $351 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries mining (diamonds); small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining

Industrial production growth rate NA%

Electricity - production 245 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 227.85 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish

Exports $65 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish

Exports - partners NZ 33.7%, Belgium 32.6%, US 7.4%, France 5.1% (2000)

Imports $145 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals

Imports - partners Czech Republic 26.7%, UK 26.6%, US 5.1%, Netherlands 4.6% (2000)

Debt - external $1.3 billion (2000)

Economic aid - recipient $103 million (2001 est.)

Currency leone (SLL)

Currency code SLL

Exchange rates leones per US dollar - 2,212.47 (January 2002), 1,985.89 (2001), 2,092.13 (2000), 1,804.20 (1999), 1,563.62 (1998), 981.48 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Sierra Leone on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sierra Leone Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sierra Leone Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.