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, 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, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC,
UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Devinda R. SUBASINGHE consulate(s): New York consulate(s) general: Los Angeles FAX: [1] (202) 232-7181 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4025 (through 4028) chancery: 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, 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% in the early 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, -1.4%, due to a
combination of power shortages, severe budgetary problems, the
global slowdown, and continuing civil strife. Growth recovered to
3.2% in 2002. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% in the
Middle East. They send home about $1 billion a year.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $73.7 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3.2% (2002 est.)