Sierra Leone

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Country summary

Capital

Freetown

Borders

Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km

Government type

constitutional democracy

Population

5,132,138 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

2.179% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

55.25 years[1]

Unemployment

NA%[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

157[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

146[3]

Doing Business ranking

148[4]


Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election, but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) - a civilian UN mission - to support efforts to consolidate peace. The new government's priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Leone (ISO code: SLL)
  • Central bank discount rate: NA%[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2009 )[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $219.1 million (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $215.2 million (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[6] 669 636 806 936 991 1 096 1 239 1 422 1 664 1 954
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[7] 247.379
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[8] 7.106 11.439 12.978 12.151 12.362 12.057
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[9] 21.992 28.741 27.583 28.624 25.698 23.241
Debt to revenue (years) 34.814

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Sierra Leone", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  2. Heritage Foundation. "Sierra Leone", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  3. Transparency International. "Sierra Leone", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  4. Doing Business. "Sierra Leone", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  5. Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 381. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  6. World Bank. "Sierra Leone: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  7. World Bank. "Sierra Leone: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  8. World Bank. "Sierra Leone: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  9. World Bank. "Sierra Leone: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.

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