Sri Lanka |
|
| 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.) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices) |
22% (1997
est.) |
| Labor
force |
6.6 million
(1998) |
| Labor
force - by occupation |
services
45%, agriculture 38%, industry 17% (1998 est.) |
| Unemployment
rate |
8% (2002)
|
| Industries |
rubber processing,
tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing,
cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco |
| Industrial
production growth rate |
1.1% (2002)
|
|
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