Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure has yet to recover from the civil war, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone’s exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation and in 2010 approved a new program worth $45 million over three years. Political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining, which are set to benefit from planned tax incentives. A number of offshore oil discoveries were announced in 2009 and 2010. The development on these reserves, which could be significant, is still several years away.

$4.812 billion (2010 est.)

$4.574 billion (2009 est.)

$4.382 billion (2008 est.)

$1.901 billion (2010 est.)

5.2% (2010 est.)

4.4% (2009 est.)

5.5% (2008 est.)

$900 (2010 est.)

$900 (2009 est.)

$900 (2008 est.)

2.207 million (2007 est.)

NA%

70.2% (2004)

62.9 (1989)

11.7% (2007 est.)

NA%

NA% (31 December 2009 est.)

24.5% (31 December 2008 est.)

$209.4 million (31 December 2009)

$219.1 million (31 December 2008)

$437 million (31 December 2009)

$434.3 million (31 December 2008)

$178.4 million (31 December 2009)

$140.9 million (31 December 2008)

$NA

rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish

diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair

NA%

80 million kWh (2007 est.)

74.4 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

29 bbl/day (2009 est.)

9,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

502 bbl/day (2007 est.)

8,316 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

-$63 million (2007 est.)

$216 million (2006)

diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish

Belgium 26.56%, US 11.87%, Netherlands 7.91%, UK 7.4%, India 6.67%, Cote d’Ivoire 6.13%, Greece 4.05% (2009)

$560 million (2006)

foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals

South Africa 14.61%, China 7.58%, US 5.87%, Cote d’Ivoire 5.65%, India 5.19%, Malaysia 5.19%, France 5.08%, UK 4.48%, Netherlands 4.06% (2009)

$1.61 billion (2003 est.)

leones (SLL) per US dollar - NA (2007), 2,961.7 (2006), 2,889.6 (2005), 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003)