| 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 annual average rate of 5.5%
throughout the 1990s until a drought and a deteriorating security
situation lowered growth to 3.8% in 1996. The economy rebounded in 1997-98
with growth of 6.4% and 4.7% - but slowed to 4.3% in 1999. Growth
increased to 5.6% in 2000, with growth in tourism and exports leading the
way. But a resurgence of civil war between the Sinhalese and the minority
Tamils and a possible slowdown in tourism dampen prospects for 2001. For
the next round of reforms, the central bank of Sri Lanka recommends that
Colombo expand market mechanisms in nonplantation agriculture, dismantle
the government's monopoly on wheat imports, and promote more competition
in the financial sector. GDP: purchasing power parity - $62.7
billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.7% (1999 est.), 5.6% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,250 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 21%
industry: 19%
services: 60% (1998)
Population below poverty line: 22% (1997 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 39.7% (1995-96 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (1999 est.)
Labor force: 6.6 million (1998)
Labor force - by occupation: services 45%, agriculture 38%, industry 17% (1998
est.)
Unemployment rate: 9.5% (1998 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $2.7 billion
expenditures: $4.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.1 billion (1998
est.)
Industries: processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural
commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco
Industrial production growth rate: 6.3% (1998)
Electricity - production: 5.505 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 30.97%
hydro: 69.03%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 5.12 billion kWh (1998)
Agriculture - products: rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea,
rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef
Exports: $4.7 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports - commodities: textiles and apparel, tea, diamonds, coconut products,
petroleum products (1998)
Exports - partners: United
States 40%, United
Kingdom 11%, Middle East 9%, Germany 5%,
Japan 4% (1998)
Imports: $5.3 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, textiles, petroleum, foodstuffs
(1998)
Imports - partners: India 10%, Japan 10%, South Korea 8%, Hong Kong 7%, Taiwan
6% (1998)
Debt - external: $8.4 billion (1998)
Economic aid - recipient: $577 million (1998)
Currency: 1 Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) = 100 cents
SOURCE: The World Factbook |