Colombo; note - Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital
Administrative:
8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western; note - North Eastern province may have been divided in two - Northern and Eastern.
Population:
19,408,635 (July 2001 est.)
note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand Tamil civilians have fled the island; as of mid-1999, approximately 66,000 were housed in 133 refugee camps in south India, another 40,000 lived outside the Indian camps, and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought refuge in the West
Currency:
Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)
Languages:
Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%br>i>note
Elevation:
highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
Natural hazards:
occasional cyclones and tornadoes
Climate:
tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
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 annual average 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 1997-98 with growth of 6.4% and 4.7% - but slowed to 4.3% in 1999. Growth increased to 5.6% in 2000, with growth in tourism and exports leading the way. But a resurgence of civil war between the Sinhalese and the minority Tamils and a possible slowdown in tourism dampen prospects for 2001. For the next round of reforms, the central bank of Sri Lanka recommends that Colombo expand market mechanisms in nonplantation agriculture, dismantle the government's monopoly on wheat imports, and promote more competition in the financial sector.
Industry:
processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco
Ethnicgroups:
Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher, Malay, and Vedda 1%
Yellow fever:
A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from travellers over 1 year of age coming from infected areas.
Malaria:
Malaria risk—predominantly due to P. vivax—exists throughout the year in the whole country excluding the districts of Colombo, Kalutara and Nuwara Eliya. P. falciparum resistant to chloroquine and sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine reported.
