_#_Elections:
President—last held 19 December 1988 (next to be held
December 1994);
results—Ranasinghe PREMADASA (UNP) 50%,
Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE (SLFP) 45%, other 5%;
Parliament—last held 15 February 1989 (next to be held by February 1995); results—UNP 51%, SLFP 32%, SLMC 4%, TULF 3%, USA 3%, EROS 3%, MEP 1%, other 3%; seats—(225 total) UNP 125, SLFP 67, other 33
_#_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
_#_Member of: AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-24, G-77, GATT, IAEA,
IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT,
INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
_#_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, Jr.; Embassy at 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 (mailing address is P. O. Box 106, Colombo); telephone [94] (1) 448007
_#_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
_*Economy #_Overview: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing dominate the economy, employing about 45% of the labor force and accounting for 26% of GDP. The plantation crops of tea, rubber, and coconuts provide about 35% of export earnings. The economy has been plagued by high rates of unemployment since the late 1970s. Economic growth, which has been depressed by ethnic unrest, accelerated in 1990 as domestic conditions began to improve.
_#_GDP: $6.6 billion, per capita $380; real growth rate 4.5% (1990 est.)