The Economy of Sri Lanka

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.)
• real growth rate: 3.2% (2002 est.)
• per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2002 est.)
• composition by sector:
• agriculture: 20%
• industry: 26%
• services: 54% (2001)

Income

• 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

• size: 6.6 million (1998)
• 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
• other agricultural commodities
• clothing
• cement
• petroleum refining
• textiles
• tobacco

Electricity

• production: 6.36 billion kWh (2001)
• production by source:
• fossil fuel: 51.7%
• hydro: 48.3%
• other: 0% (2001)
• nuclear: 0%
• consumption: 5.915 billion kWh (2001)
• exports: 0 kWh (2001)
• imports: 0 kWh (2001)

Oil

• production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
• consumption: 75,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
• exports: NA (2001)
• imports: NA (2001)

Agriculture products

• rice
• sugarcane
• grains
• oilseed
• spices
• tea
• rubber
• coconuts
• milk
• eggs
• hides
• beef

Exports

• $4.6 billion f.o.b. (2002)
• commodities: textiles and apparel, tea, diamonds, coconut products, petroleum products
• partners: US 38.7%, UK 10.6%, Germany 4.3%, Japan 4.1%, Middle East (2001)

Imports

• $5.4 billion f.o.b. (2002)
• commodities: textiles, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and equipment
• partners: India 9.9%, Singapore 6.5%, Hong Kong 6.3%, Japan 4.8%, South Korea (2001)

Currency

• Name: 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)

Miscellaneous

• Debt - external: $9.8 billion (2002)
• Economic aid - recipient: $577 million (1998)
• Industrial production growth rate: 1.1% (2002)
• Fiscal year: calendar year

Source

2003 World Factbook (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ce.html)

Last Modified: 1 December 2003