Sierra Leone

Airports

total: 11 usable: 7 with permanent-surface runways: 3 with runways over 3,659 m: 0 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 3

Highways

total: 7,400 km paved: 1,150 km unpaved: crushed stone, gravel 490 km; improved earth 5,760 km

Inland waterways

800 km; 600 km navigable year round

Merchant marine

1 cargo ship (over 1,000 GRT) totaling 5,592 GRT/9,107 DWT

Ports

Freetown, Pepel, Bonthe

Railroads

84 km 1.067-meter narrow-gauge mineral line is used on a limited basis because the mine at Marampa is closed

Telecommunications

marginal telephone and telegraph service; national microwave radio relay system unserviceable at present; 23,650 telephones; broadcast stations - 1 AM, 1 FM, 1 TV; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station

Branches

Army, Navy, Police, Security Forces

Defense expenditures

exchange rate conversion - $6 million, 0.7% of GDP (1988 est.)

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 1,006,280; fit for military service 487,158

Agriculture

accounts for over 30% of GDP and two-thirds of the labor force; largely subsistence farming; cash crops - coffee, cocoa, palm kernels; harvests of food staple rice meets 80% of domestic needs; annual fish catch averages 53,000 metric tons

Budget

revenues: $68 million expenditures: $118 million, including capital expenditures of $28 million (1992 est.)

Currency

1 leone (Le) = 100 cents

Economic aid

recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $161 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $848 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $18 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $101 million

Electricity

capacity: 85,000 kW production: 185 million kWh consumption per capita: 45 kWh (1991)

Exchange rates

leones (Le) per US$1 - 578.17 (January 1994), 567.46 (1993), 499.44 (1992), 295.34 (1991), 144.9275 (1990), 58.1395 (1989)

Exports

$149 million (f.o.b., FY92) commodities: rutile 51%, bauxite 19%, diamonds 15%, coffee 5% partners: US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe

External debt

$633 million (FY92 est.)

Fiscal year

1 July - 30 June

Imports

$131 million (c.i.f., FY92) commodities: foodstuffs 33%, machinery and equipment 19%, fuels 16% partners: US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria

Industrial production

growth rate -1.2% (FY91); accounts for 11% of GDP

Industries

mining (diamonds, bauxite, rutile), small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear), petroleum refinery

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

35% (1992)

National product

GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $4.5 billion (FY93 est.)

National product per capita

$1,000 (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate

NA

Overview

The economic and social infrastructure is not well developed. Subsistence agriculture dominates the economy, generating about one-third of GDP and employing about two-thirds of the working population. Manufacturing, which accounts for roughly 10% of GDP, consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Diamond mining provides an important source of hard currency. In 1990-93, the government, with the support of the IMF and the World Bank, has made substantial progress toward structural reform and better fiscal management. The government readily met all IMF/WB targets in December 1993. The budget deficit had been dramatically reduced; the government workforce had been cut by 25%; large amounts of domestic debt had been retired; arrears to the IMF, World Bank, and other creditors had been reduced. On the negative side, continued incursions by the Liberian rebels, bandits, and army deserters in southern and eastern Sierra Leone have severely strained the economy and threaten economically critical regions of the country.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Area

total area: 71,740 sq km land area: 71,620 sq km comparative area: slightly smaller than South Carolina

Climate

tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)

Coastline

402 km

Environment

current issues: rapid population growth pressuring the environment; overharvesting of timber, expansion of cattle grazing, and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion; civil war depleting natural resources natural hazards: dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (November to May) international agreements: party to - Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea

International disputes

none

Irrigated land

340 sq km (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

total 958 km, Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km

Land use

arable land: 25% permanent crops: 2% meadows and pastures: 31% forest and woodland: 29% other: 13%

Location

Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean between Guinea and Liberia

Map references

Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 200 nm

Natural resources

diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Terrain

coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east

Administrative divisions

3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western*

Capital

Freetown

Constitution

1 October 1991; suspended following 19 April 1992 coup

Digraph

SL

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas Kahota KARGBO chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: (202) 939-9261

Executive branch

chief of state and head of government: Chairman of the Supreme Council of State Capt. Valentine E. M. STRASSER (since 29 April 1992) cabinet: Council of Secretaries; responsible to the NPRC

FAX

[232] (22) 225-471

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of light green (top), white, and light blue

Independence

27 April 1961 (from UK)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court (suspended after coup of 29 April 1992)

Legal system

based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral House of Representatives (suspended after coup of 29 April 1992); Chairman STRASSER promises multi-party elections sometime in 1995

Member of

ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Names

conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone conventional short form: Sierra Leone

National holiday

Republic Day, 27 April (1961)

Political parties and leaders

status of existing political parties is unknown following 29 April 1992 coup

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Type

military government

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Lauralee M. PETERS embassy: Walpole and Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [232] (22) 226-481

Birth rate

45.06 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate

18.87 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Ethnic divisions

13 native African tribes 99% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 39%), Creole, European, Lebanese, and Asian 1%

Infant mortality rate

141.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)

Labor force

1.369 million (1981 est.) by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry 19%, services 16% (1981 est.) note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985); 55% of population of working age

Languages

English (official; regular use limited to literate minority), Mende principal vernacular in the south, Temne principal vernacular in the north, Krio the language of the re-settled ex-slave population of the Freetown area and is lingua franca

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 46.4 years male: 43.58 years female: 49.3 years (1994 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write English, Merde, Temne, or Arabic (1990 est.) total population: 21% male: 31% female: 11%

Nationality

noun: Sierra Leonean(s) adjective: Sierra Leonean

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Population

4,630,037 (July 1994 est.)

Population growth rate

2.62% (1994 est.)

Religions

Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%

Total fertility rate

5.96 children born/woman (1994 est.)