Economy - overview Sierra Leone has 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. The seizure of power by the new Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in May 1997 led to UN sanctions and a sharp drop in GDP. 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. Bauxite and rutile mines have been shut down by civil strife. The major source of hard currency is found in the mining of diamonds, the large majority of which are smuggled out of the country.

GDP purchasing power parity - $2.65 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate -27% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $540 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 39%
industry: 27%
services: 34% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 40% (1997 est.)

Labor force
total: 1.369 million (1981 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry 19%, services 16% (1981 est.)
note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)

Unemployment rate NA%

Budget
revenues: $96 million
expenditures: $150 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1996 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate NA%

Electricity - capacity 126,000 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 230 million kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 48 kWh (1995)

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

Exports
total value: $47 million (f.o.b., 1996); note - much reduced in 1997 by civil warfare
commodities: diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish
partners: US 20%, Belgium 20%, Spain 13%, UK 6%, other Western Europe

Imports
total value: $211 million (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants
partners: Cote d'Ivoire, EU countries, India

Debt - external $1.1 billion (1996)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency 1 leone (Le) = 100 cents

Exchange rates leones (Le) per US$1 - 1,312.37 (December 1997), 967.72 (1997), 920.73 (1996), 755.22 (1995), 586.74 (1994), 567.46 (1993)

Fiscal year 1 July - 30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Sierra Leone on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sierra Leone Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sierra Leone Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.