when both offices exist cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 December 1999 (next to be held NA December 2005) election results: Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA reelected president; percent of vote - Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (PA) 51%, Ranil WICKREMASINGHE (UNP) 42%, other 7%
Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of a modified proportional representation system by district to serve six-year terms) elections: last held 7 December 2001 (next to be held NA December 2007) election results: percent of vote by party or electoral alliance - UNP, SLMC and CWC 46.8%, PA and EPDP 38%, JVP 9.1%, Tamil National Alliance 3.89%, PLOTE 0.19%; seats by party or electoral alliance - UNP, SLMC and CWC 114, PA and EPDP 79, JVP 16, Tamil National Alliance 15, PLOTE 1
Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president
Political parties and leaders: All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC
[KUMARGURUPARAM]; Ceylon Workers Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN];
Communist Party or CP [D. GUNASEKERA]; Democratic United National (Lalith)
Front or DUNLF [Shrimani ATULATHMUDALI]; Eelam People's Democratic Party
or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation
Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or
JVP [Tilvan SILVA]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF];
People's Alliance or PA [Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA]; People's
Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [leader NA]; Sihala
Urumaya or SU [Tilak KARUNARATNE]; Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP
[Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC
[Rauff HAKEEM]; Sri Lanka Progressive Front or SLPF [P. Nelson PERERA];
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [SABARATNAM]; Tamil National
Alliance or TNA [Nadarajah RAVIRAJ]; Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF
[R. SAMPATHAN]; United National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE];
Upcountry People's Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN]; several ethnic
Tamil and Muslim parties, represented in either Parliament or provincial
councils
Political pressure groups and leaders: Buddhist clergy; labor unions; Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE [Velupillai PRABHAKARAN](insurgent group fighting for a separate state); radical chauvinist Sinhalese groups such as the National Movement Against Terrorism; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups
International organization participation: AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP,
FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD,
IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS
(observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Warnasena RASAPUTRAM consulate(s): New York [1] (202) 232-7181 telephone: Washington, DC 20008
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
E. Ashley WILLS embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 mailing address:
P. O. Box 106, Colombo telephone: [94] (1) 448007 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 around the entire flag and extends between the two panels
Economy 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% throughout the 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, due to a combination of power shortages, severe budgetary problems, the global slowdown, and continuing civil strife.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $62.7 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: -1% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,250 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 21% industry: 27% services: 52% (2000)
Population below poverty line: 22% (1997 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.5% highest 10%: 28% (1995)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 34.4 (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 14.2% (2001 est.)
Labor force: 6.6 million (1998)
Labor force - by occupation: services 45%, agriculture 38%, industry 17% (1998 est.)
Unemployment rate: 7.7% (2001)
Budget: revenues: $2.8 billion expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries: rubber processing, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco
Industrial production growth rate: 1.4% (2001)
Electricity - production: 6.619 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 31.86% hydro: 68.14% other: 0% (2000) nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption: 6.156 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products: rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef
Exports: $4.9 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Exports - commodities: textiles and apparel 15%, tea, diamonds, coconut products, petroleum products
Exports - partners: US 39%, UK 13%, Middle East 8%, Germany 4%, Japan 4% (2000)
Imports: $6 billion
