Economy - overview:
In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import substitution trade policy for market-oriented policies and export-oriented trade. Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors now are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. By 1996 plantation crops made up only 20% of exports (compared with 93% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for 63%. GDP grew at an average annual rate of 5.5% in the early 1990s until a drought and a deteriorating security situation lowered growth to 3.8% in 1996. The economy rebounded in 1997-2000 with average growth of 5.3%, but 2001 saw the first contraction in the country's history, -1.4%, due to a combination of power shortages, severe budgetary problems, the global slowdown, and continuing civil strife. Growth recovered to 3.2% in 2002. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% in the Middle East. They send home about $1 billion a year.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $73.7 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3.2% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 20%
industry: 26%
services: 54% (2001)
Population below poverty line:
22% (1997 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 28% (1995)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
34.4 (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9.6% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
6.6 million (1998)
Labor force - by occupation:
services 45%, agriculture 38%, industry 17% (1998 est.)
Unemployment rate:
8% (2002)
Budget:
revenues: $2.8 billion
expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries:
rubber processing, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco
Industrial production growth rate:
1.1% (2002)
Electricity - production:
6.36 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 51.7%
hydro: 48.3%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
5.915 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
75,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Agriculture - products:
rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef
Exports:
$4.6 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities:
textiles and apparel, tea, diamonds, coconut products, petroleum products
Exports - partners:
US 38.7%, UK 10.6%, Germany 4.3%, Japan 4.1%, Middle East (2001)
Imports:
$5.4 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Imports - commodities:
textiles, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and equipment
Imports - partners:
India 9.9%, Singapore 6.5%, Hong Kong 6.3%, Japan 4.8%, South Korea (2001)
Debt - external:
$9.8 billion (2002)
Economic aid - recipient:
$577 million (1998)
Currency:
Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)
Currency code:
LKR
Exchange rates:
Sri Lankan rupees per US dollar - 95.6621 (2002), 89.383 (2001), 77.0051 (2000), 70.6354 (1999), 64.4501 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
NOTE: The information regarding Sri Lanka on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sri Lanka Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
