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FAX: [94] (1) 437345

Flag description: yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side
panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange;
the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion
holding a sword, and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the
yellow field appears as a border that goes around the entire flag
and extends between the two panels

Sri Lanka Economy

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 annual average rate of 5.5% throughout the 1990s until a drought
and a deteriorating security situation lowered growth to 3.8% in
1996. The economy rebounded in 1997-98 with growth of 6.4% and 4.7%
- but slowed to 4.3% in 1999. Growth increased to 5.6% in 2000, with
growth in tourism and exports leading the way. But a resurgence of
civil war between the Sinhalese and the minority Tamils and a
possible slowdown in tourism dampen prospects for 2001. For the next
round of reforms, the central bank of Sri Lanka recommends that
Colombo expand market mechanisms in nonplantation agriculture,
dismantle the government's monopoly on wheat imports, and promote
more competition in the financial sector.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $62.7 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.6% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,250 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 21%

industry: 19%

services: 60% (1998)

Population below poverty line: 22% (1997 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%:
1.8%

highest 10%: 39.7% (1995-96 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.5% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 6.6 million (1998)

Labor force - by occupation: services 45%, agriculture 38%, industry
17% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate: 8.8% (1999 est.)

Budget: revenues: $3 billion

expenditures: $3 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(2000 est.)

Industries: processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other
agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refinin