1989 Edition

Climate

tropical

tropical; monsoonal; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)

Coastline

926 km

1,340 km

Comparative area

undetermined

slightly larger than West Virginia

Contiguous zone

24 nm

Continental shelf

edge of continental margin or 200 nm

Disputes

China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim all or part of the Spratly Islands

Environment

subject to typhoons; includes numerous small islands, atolls, shoals, and coral reefs

occasional cyclones, tornados; deforestation; soil erosion

Extended economic zone

200 nm

Land boundaries

none

none

Land use

0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other

1 6% arable land; 1 7% permanent crops; 7% meadows and pastures; 37% forest and woodland; 23% other; includes 8% irrigated

Maritime claims

undetermined

Natural resources

fish, guano; oil and natural gas potential

limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay

Note

strategically located near several primary shipping lanes in the central South China Sea; serious navigational hazard

only 29 km from India across the Palk Strait; near major Indian Ocean sea lanes

Terrain

flat

mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior

Territorial sea

1 2 nm

Total area

less than 5 km2; land area: less than 5 km2; includes 100 or so islets, coral reefs, and sea mounts scattered over the South China Sea

65,610 km2; land area: 64,740 km2

Total area

100km South China Sea ^Northeast Cay ' ^ Southwest Cay, est or Thitu Island . , i Island * -Lankiam Cay Ffal ' Loaita'lsland Island-, ItuAoa Island.'??"" Cay Nh », • Namyit Island ' ' IXSin Cowe Island J . ' 'fiery Cross Keel - Spratly Island * Allison fleet •Amboyna Cay

Birth rate

21 births/ 1,000 population (1990)

Death rate

6 deaths/ 1 ,000 population (1990)

Ethnic divisions

74% Sinhalese; 18% Tamil; 7% Moor; 1% Burgher, Malay, and Veddha

Infant mortality rate

3 1 deaths/ 1 ,000 live births (1990)

Labor force

6,600,000; 45.9% agriculture, 13.3% mining and manufacturing, 12.4% trade and transport, 28.4% services and other (1985 est.)

Language

Sinhala (official); Sinhala and Tamil listed as national languages; Sinhala spoken by about 74% of population, Tamil spoken by about 1 8%; English commonly used in government and spoken by about 10% of the population

Life expectancy at birth

68 years male, 72 years female (1990)

Literacy

87%

Nationality

noun — Sri Lankan(s); adjective— Sri Lankan

Net migration rate

NEGL migrants/ 1,000 population (1990)

Organized labor

about 33% of labor force, over 50% of which are employed on tea, rubber, and coconut estates

Population

no permanent inhabitants; garrisons

17,196,436 (July 1990), growth rate 1.5% (1990)

Religion

69% Buddhist, 1 5% Hindu, 8% Christian, 8% Muslim

Total fertility rate

2.3 children born/ woman (1990) Sri Lanka (continued)

Administrative divisions

24 districts; Amparai, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Mullativu, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Trincomalee, Vavuniya; note — the administrative structure may now include 8 provinces (Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, and Western) and 25 districts (with Kilinochchi added to the existing districts)

Capital

Colombo

Constitution

31 August 1978

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador W. Susanta De ALWIS; Chancery at 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 483-4025 through 4028; there is a Sri Lankan Consulate in New York; US — Ambassador Marion V. CREEKMORE; Embassy at 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 (mailing address is P. O. Box 106, Colombo); telephone [94] (1) 548007

Elections

President — last held 19 December 1988 (next to be held December 1994); results — Ranasinghe Premadasa (UNP) 50%, Sirimavo Bandaranaike (SLFP) 45%, others 5%; Parliament— last held 15 February 1989 (next to be held by February 1995); results— percent of vote by party NA; seats— (225 total) UNP 125, SLFP 67, others 33

Executive branch

president, prime minister. Cabinet

Flag

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

Independence

4 February 1948 (from UK; formerly Ceylon)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Leaders

Chief of State — President Ranasinghe PREMADASA (since 2 January 1989); Head of Government — Prime Minister Dingiri Banda WIJETUNGE (since 6 March 1989) Political parties and leaders: United National Party (UNP), Ranasinghe Premadasa; Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo Bandaranaike; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mhm. Ashraff; All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar Ponnambalam; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP, or People's United Front), Dinesh Gundawardene; Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP, or Sri Lanka People's Party), Chandrika Baudaranaike Kumaranatunga; Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP, Lanka Socialist Party/Trotskyite), Colin R. de Silva; Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP, or New Socialist Party), Vasudeva Nanayakkara; Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), leader NA; Communist Party/Moscow (CP/M), K. P. Silva; Communist Party/Beijing (CP/B), N. Shanmugathasan

Legal system

a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral Parliament

Long-form name

none

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Member of

ADB, ANRPC, CCC, Colombo Plan, Commonwealth, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, NAM, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

National holiday

Independence and National Day, 4 February (1948)

Other political or pressure groups

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other smaller Tamil separatist groups; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People's Liberation Front); Buddhist clergy; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; labor unions

Suffrage

universal at age 18

Type

republic

Agriculture

accounts for 25% of GDP and nearly half of labor force; most important staple crop is paddy rice; other field crops — sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseeds, roots, spices; cash crops — tea, rubber, coconuts; animal products — milk, eggs, hides, meat; not self-sufficient in rice production

Aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $932 million; Western (nonUS) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-87), $4.3 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $169 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $369 million

Budget

revenues $1.5 billion; expenditures $2.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $0.7 billion (1989)

Currency

Sri Lankan rupee (plural — rupees); 1 Sri Lankan rupee (SLRe) = 100 cents

Electricity

1 ,300,000 kW capacity; 4,200 million kWh produced, 250 kWh per capita (1 989)

Exchange rates

Sri Lankan rupees (SLRs) per US$1— 40.000 (January 1990), 36.047 (1989), 31.807 (1988), 29.445 (1987), 28.017(1986), 27.163(1985) Fiscal yean calendar year

Exports

$1.5 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities— tea, textiles and garments, petroleum products, coconut, rubber, agricultural products, gems and jewelry, marine products; partners — US 26%, Egypt, Iraq, UK, FRG, Singapore, Japan

External debt

$5.6 billion (1989)

GDP

$6.1 billion, per capita $370; real growth rate 2.7% (1988)

Imports

$2.3 billion (c.i.f., 1988); commodities— petroleum, machinery and equipment, textiles and textile materials, wheat, transportation equipment, electrical machinery, sugar, rice; partners — Japan, Saudi Arabia, US 5.6%, India, Singapore, FRG, UK, Iran

Industrial production

growth rate 5% (1988)

Industries

some guano mining

processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco, clothing

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

1 5% (1988)

Overview

Economic activity is limited to commercial fishing and phosphate mining. Geological surveys carried out several years ago suggest that substantial reserves of oil and natural gas may lie beneath the islands; commercial exploitation has yet to be developed.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing dominate the economy, employing about half of the labor force and accounting for about 25% of GDP. The plantation crops of tea, rubber, and coconuts provide about 50% of export earnings and almost 20% of budgetary revenues. The economy has been plagued by high rates of unemployment since the late 1970s.

Unemployment rate

20% (1988 est.)

Airports

3 total, 2 usable; none with runways over 2,439 m; 1 with runways 1,2202,439 m

Note

approximately 50 small islands or reefs are occupied by China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam Jaffna Ste region.! map V

Ports

none; offshore anchorage only Defense Forces