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 39.1%, UK 12.9%, Belgium 4.7%, Germany 4.5% (2002)
Imports:
$5.4 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Imports - commodities:
textiles, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and
equipment
Imports - partners:
India 11%, Hong Kong 7.6%, Singapore 7.1%, China 6.3%, Taiwan 5.9%,
South Korea 5.7%, Japan 5.3%, Iran 4.2% (2002)
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 - 95.66 (2002), 89.38 (2001), 77.01
(2000), 70.64 (1999), 64.45 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year