ressive Party or PPP
; Revolutionary United Front Party or
RUFP ; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP
; United National People's
Party or UNPP [John KARIFA-SMART in exile, Raymond KAMARA, acting
leader]

International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA,
ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC,
ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador John Ernest LEIGH
chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: (202) 939-9261 through 9263
FAX: (202) 483-1793

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Joseph MELROSE
embassy: Corner of Walpole and Siaka Stevens Streets, Freetown
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: (22) 226481 through 226485
FAX: (22) 225471

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

@Sierra Leone:Economy

Economy - overview: Sierra Leone has substantial mineral,
agricultural, and fishery resources. However, the economic and social
infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders
continue to hamper economic development. About two-thirds 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. Bauxite and rutile
mines have been shut down by civil strife. The major source of hard
currency is found in the mining of diamonds, the large majority of
which are smuggled out of the country. The resurgence of internal
warfare in 1999 brought another substantial drop in GDP. The fate of
the economy in 2000 depends on the mid-1999 peace accord holding and
the rebels reopening territory under their control.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $2.5 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: -10% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $500 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 52%
industry: 16%
services: 32% (1996)

Population below poverty line: 68% (1989 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 43.6% (1989)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 30% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 1.369 million (1981 est.)
note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)