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Government
Sri Lanka

Country name:

conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka conventional short form: Sri Lanka local long form: Shri Lamka Prajatantrika Samajaya di Janarajaya/Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu local short form: Shri Lamka/Ilankai former: Serendib, Ceylon

Government type:

republic

Capital:

name: Colombo geographic coordinates: 6 56 N, 79 51 E time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital)

Administrative divisions:

8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western note: in October 2006, a Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruling voided a presidential directive merging the North and Eastern Provinces; many have defended the merger as a prerequisite for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict; a parliamentary decision on the issue is pending

Independence:

4 February 1948 (from UK)

National holiday:

Independence Day, 4 February (1948)

Constitution:

adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978

Legal system:

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

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:

chief of state: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government; Ratnasiri WICKREMANAYAKE (since 21 November 2005) holds the largely ceremonial title of prime minister head of government: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 17 November 2005 (next to be held in 2011) election results: Mahinda RAJAPAKSA elected president; percent of vote - Mahinda RAJAPAKSA 50.3%, Ranil WICKREMESINGHE 48.4%, other 1.3%

Legislative branch:

unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of an open-list, proportional representation system by electoral district to serve six-year terms) elections: last held on 2 April 2004 (next to be held by 2010) election results: percent of vote by party or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP (no longer in formal UPFA alliance) 45.6%, UNP 37.8%, TNA 6.8%, JHU 6%, SLMC 2%, UPF 0.5%, EPDP 0.3%, other 1%; seats by party - UNP 68, SLFP 57, JVP 39, TNA 22, CWC 8, JHU 7, SLMC 6, SLMC dissidents 4, Communist Party 2, JHU dissidents 2, LSSP 2, MEP 2, NUA 2, UPF 2, EPDP 1, UNP dissident 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 [G.PONNAMBALAM]; Ceylon Workers
Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party or CP [D.
GUNASEKERA]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas
DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF
[Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP [Somawansa
AMARASINGHE]; Lanka Sama Samaja Party or LSSP [Tissa VITHARANA];
Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) or MEP [D.
GUNAWARDENE]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Ellawala METHANANDA];
National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation
Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D. SIDHARTHAN]; Sri Lanka
Freedom Party or SLFP [Mahinda RAJAPAKSA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM]; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO
[Selvam ADAIKALANATHAN]; Tamil National Alliance or TNA [R.
SAMPANTHAN]; Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF [V.
ANANDASANGAREE]; United National Party or UNP [Ranil
WICKREMASINGHE]; Up-country People's Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE [Velupillai PRABHAKARAN](insurgent group fighting for a separate state); Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) or Karuna Faction [Vinayagamurthi MURALITHARAN] (paramilitary breakaway from LTTE and fighting LTTE) other: Buddhist clergy; labor unions; radical chauvinist Sinhalese groups such as the National Movement Against Terrorism; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups

International organization participation:

ADB, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUC,
NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNIDO, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Jaliya WICKRAMASURIYA chancery: 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: (202) 483-4025 (through 4028) FAX: (202) 232-7181 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles consulate(s): New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Robert O. BLAKE, Jr. embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 mailing address: P. O. Box 106, Colombo telephone: (11) 249-8500 FAX: (11) 243-7345

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 more market-oriented policies, export-oriented trade, and encouragement of foreign investment. Recent changes in government, however, have brought some policy reversals. Currently, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party has a more statist economic approach, which seeks to reduce poverty by steering investment to disadvantaged areas, developing small and medium enterprises, promoting agriculture, and expanding the already enormous civil service. The government has halted privatizations. Although suffering a brutal civil war that began in 1983, Sri Lanka saw GDP growth average 4.5% in the last 10 years with the exception of a recession in 2001. In late December 2004, a major tsunami took about 31,000 lives, left more than 6,300 missing and 443,000 displaced, and destroyed an estimated $1.5 billion worth of property. Government spending and reconstruction drove growth to more than 7% in 2006 but reduced agriculture output probably slowed growth to about 6 percent in 2007. Government spending and loose monetary policy drove inflation to nearly 16% in 2007. Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors now are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port construction, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2006, plantation crops made up only about 15% of exports (compared with more than 90% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for more than 60%. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% of them in the Middle East. They send home more than $1 billion a year. The struggle by the Tamil Tigers of the north and east for an independent homeland continues to cast a shadow over the economy.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$82.02 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$30.01 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

6.8% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$4,000 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 11.7% industry: 29.9% services: 58.4% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

7.489 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 34.3% industry: 25.3% services: 40.4% (30 June 2006 est.)

Unemployment rate:

6% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

22% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 1.1% highest 10%: 39.7% (FY03/04)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: