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@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. In 1990-93, the government, with
the support of the IMF and the World Bank, has made substantial
progress toward structural reform and better fiscal management. The
government readily met all IMF/WB targets in December 1993. The budget
deficit had been dramatically reduced; the government workforce had
been cut by 25%; large amounts of domestic debt had been retired;
arrears to the IMF, World Bank, and other creditors had been reduced.
On the negative side, continued incursions by the Liberian rebels,
bandits, and army deserters in southern and eastern Sierra Leone have
severely strained the economy and threaten economically critical
regions of the country.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $4.5 billion (FY93 est.)
National product real growth rate:
NA
National product per capita:
$1,000 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
35% (1992)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$68 million
expenditures:
$118 million, including capital expenditures of $28 million (1992
est.)
Exports:
$149 million (f.o.b., FY92)
commodities:
rutile 51%, bauxite 19%, diamonds 15%, coffee 5%
partners:
US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe
Imports:
$131 million (c.i.f., FY92)
commodities:
foodstuffs 33%, machinery and equipment 19%, fuels 16%
partners:
US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria
External debt:
$633 million (FY92 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate -1.2% (FY91); accounts for 11% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity:
85,000 kW
production:
185 million kWh
consumption per capita:
45 kWh (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 m