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Sri Lanka
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Official Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
National Anthem: 
Capital: Kotte, population 115,826 (2001 estimate)
Area: 65,610 Sq Km (25,382 Sq Mi)
Estimated 2004 Population: 20,064,776
Location: 7°00′N 81°00′E
Time Zone
UTC+6
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Sri Lanka is an island located in the Indian Ocean and separated from India by the Palk Strait. The country has two geographical regions.
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A rolling plain which comprises 80% of the land area as well as the entire northern half of the island and continues around the coast to the southern half.
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The south central region which is hilly and mountainous with two plateaux, the Hatton and Kandy, that rise abruptly from the Ura Basin.
The country has sixteen rivers of which the Mahaweli Ganga and the Aruvi Aru are the longest.
Major Cities (pop. est.); Colombo 615,000, Dehiwala 196,000, Moratuwa 170,000, Jaffna 129,000 (1990). Land Use; forested 33%, pastures 7%, agricultural-cultivated 29%, other 31% (1993).
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Sri Lanka's position between 5 and 10 north latitude endows the country with a warm climate, moderated by ocean winds and considerable moisture. The mean temperature ranges from a low of 15.8 °C in Nuwara Eliya in the Central Highlands (where frost may occur for several days in the winter) to a high of 29° C in Trincomalee on the northeast coast (where temperatures may reach 37 °C). The average yearly temperature for the country as a whole ranges from 26 to 28 °C. Day and night temperatures may vary by 4 to 7. January is the coolest month, causing people, especially those in the highlands, to wear coats and sweaters. May, the hottest period, precedes the summer monsoon rains.
The rainfall pattern is influenced by the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal and is marked by four seasons. The first is from mid-May to October, when winds originate in the southwest, bringing moisture from the Indian Ocean. When these winds encounter the slopes of the Central Highlands, they unload heavy rains on the mountain slopes and the southwestern sector of the island. Some of the windward slopes receive up to 2500 mm of rain per month, but the leeward slopes in the east and northeast receive little rain. The second season occurs in October and November, the intermonsoonal months. During this season, periodic squalls occur and sometimes tropical cyclones bring overcast skies and rains to the southwest, northeast, and eastern parts of the island. During the third season, December to March, monsoon winds come from the northeast, bringing moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The northeastern slopes of the mountains may be inundated with up to 1250 mm of rain during these months. Another intermonsoonal period occurs from March until mid-May, with light, variable winds and evening thundershowers.
Humidity is typically higher in the southwest and mountainous areas and depends on the seasonal patterns of rainfall. At Colombo, for example, daytime humidity stays above 70 % all year, rising to almost 90 percent during the monsoon season in June. Anuradhapura experiences a daytime low of 60 % during the intermonsoonal month of March, but a high of 79 % during the November and December rains. In the highlands, Kandy's daytime humidity usually ranges between 70 and 79 %.
Sri Lanka Weather Now
Ecology
Sri Lanka is one of the world's bio-diversity hot-spots. Its forests are among the most floristically rich in Asia and for some faunal groups, it has the world's highest density of species diversity. The southwest, where the influence of the moisture-bearing southwest monsoon is strongest, is home to the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests. At higher elevations they transition to the Sri Lanka montane rain forests. Both these tropical moist forest ecoregions are very similar to those of India's Western Ghats.
The north and east are considerably drier, lying in the rain shadow of the central highlands. The Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion, which, like the neighboring East Deccan dry evergreen forests of India's Coromandel Coast, is characterized by evergreen trees, rather than the dry-season deciduous trees that predominate in most other tropical dry broadleaf forests.
These forests have been largely cleared for agriculture, timber or grazing, and many of the dry evergreen forests have been degraded to thorn scrub, savanna, or thickets. Several preserves have been established to protect some of Sri Lanka's remaining natural areas. The island has three biosphere reserves, Hurulu (established 1977), Sinharaja (established 1978), and Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya (KDN) (established 2004).
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The principal ethnic majority are the Sinhalese who account for 74% of the population. Other ethnic minorities include the Tamils, who are of Indian origin and account for 18% of the population while the Moors account for 7% and the Burghers, Malays, Euro-Asians as well as others account for the remainder.
Some key facts about SRI Lanka
- First country in the World to have a female prime minister (Sirimavo Bandaranaike)
- Longest period of continuous multi party democracy by a non western country (from 1931-present)
- First country in South Asia to start radio broadcasting with Radio Ceylon
- Sri Lanka celebrated 80 years in Broadcasting on December 16th 2005
- World's leading exporter of tea; Ceylon tea is of the finest quality in the world
- World's leading exporter of cinnamon; exported to Egypt as early as 1400 BC
- First country to have a wildlife sanctuary
- Winner of the Cricket World Cup in 1996
- The Buddhist scriptures were first committed to writing at Aluvihare in Sri Lanka
- The chronology of early India depends upon that of the Mahawamsa
Density; 262 persons per sq km (680 persons per sq mi) (1991). Urban-Rural; 22.0% urban, 78.0% rural (1993). Sex Distribution; 51.0% male, 49.0% female (1991). Life Expectancy at Birth; 70.0 years male, 74.0 years female (1993). Age Breakdown; 35% under 15, 21% 15 to 24, 26% 25 to 44, 11% 45 to 59, 4% 60 to 69, 3% 70 and over (1991). Birth Rate; 21.2 per 1,000 (1991). Death Rate; 5.8 per 1,000 (1991). Increase Rate; 15.4 per 1,000 (1991). Infant Mortality Rate; 24.0 per 1,000 live births (1993).
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The President of the Republic is directly elected for a six-year term and serves as Head of State, Head of Government and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The President is responsible to Parliament for the exercise of duties in accordance with the Constitution and laws. The incumbent may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of Parliament, with the agreement by the Supreme Court. The President appoints and heads a Cabinet of Ministers responsible to Parliament. The President's deputy is the Prime Minister, who leads the ruling party in Parliament.
The Sri Lankan Parliament is a unicameral 225-member legislature. Members are elected by universal (adult) suffrage based on a modified proportional representation system by district to a six-year term. The primary modification is that the party that receives the largest number of valid votes in each constituency gains a unique "bonus seat" (see Hickman, 1999). The president may summon, suspend, or end a legislative session and dissolve parliament any time after it has served for one year. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws. Since its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
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Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005) |
Parliament was dissolved on February 07, 2004 by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Elections were held on April 02 and the new Parliament convened on April 23 and elected Mahinda Rajapakse as the Prime Minister.
In August 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that Presidential Elections would be held in November 2005, resolving a long-running dispute on the length of President Kumaratunga's term. Mahinda Rajapakse was nominated the SLFP candidate and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe UNP candidate. The Election was held on November 17, 2005, and Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka with a 50.29% of valid votes, compared to Ranil Wickremesinghe's 48.43%. Rajapaksa took oath as President on November 19, 2005. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was appointed the 22nd Prime Minister on November 21, 2005, to fill the post vacated by Rajapaksa. He was previously Prime Minister in 2000.
Rajapaksa offers less autonomy than Wickremasinghe to the northeast, home to most of Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils. His narrow victory was engineered by the the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who want Tamil Eelam to be an independent country. The LTTE boycotted the election, thereby preventing thousands of Tamils from voting, and so Wickremasinghe from taking power, whose election promises included a Federal state to the North and East.
There were high hopes that the devastating Tsunami of December 2004 would force the government and Tamil rebels into a new, lasting dialogue to address the serious effects of the disaster on Sri Lanka as a whole. But these hopes were dashed by almost immediate accusations of bias and favouritism on the part of international aid agencies from both sides. At the close of 2005, deep political unease and suspicion remained between the two factions.
Sri Lanka consists of 8 provinces:
- Central
- North Central
- North Eastern
- North Western
- Sabaragamuwa
- Southern
- Uva
- Western
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The national religion is Theravada Buddhism which accounts for 69% of the population, mostly the Sinhalese. Other religious minorities include Hindus which account for around 16%, Christians for 7.5% and Muslims for 7.6% of the population.
The official language is Sinhala and Tamil, while English is also widely spoken.
Aged 25 or over and having attained: no formal schooling 15.5%, incomplete primary 12.1%, primary 52.3%, lower secondary 14.7%, upper secondary 3.0%, higher 1.1% (1981). Literacy; literate population aged 15 or over 86.1% (1981).
The official currency is the Rupee (SLRs) divided into 100 Cents.
Sri Lanka is historically famous for its cinnamon and tea (introduced by the British in the 19th century). From independence, till 1977, it was a strongly socialist economy but since then it has been increasingly pursuing privatization, market-oriented policies and export-oriented trade. While tea and rubber are still important, the most dynamic sectors are now food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, telecommunications, insurance, and banking. By 1996, plantation crops made up only 20% of exports (compared with 93% in 1970), while textiles and garments 63%.
The GDP grew at an average annual rate of 5.5% during 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%. 2001 saw the first economic contraction in the country's history, due to a combination of power shortages, budgetary problems, the global slowdown, and continuing civil strife. Signs of recovery appeared after the government and the LTTE signed the 2002 ceasefire. The Colombo stock exchange reported the highest growth in Asia for 2003, and today Sri Lanka has the highest per capita income in South Asia.
In April 2004, there was a sharp reversal in economic policy after the government headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe from the United National Party was defeated by a coalition made up of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna called the United People's Freedom Alliance. The new government stopped the privatization of state enterprises, reforms of state utilities such as power and petroleum and embarked on an unprecedented subsidy program called the Rata Perata economic program. Its main theme to support the rural and suburban SMEs and protect the domestic economy from external influences, such as oil prices, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
But this policy of subsidizing imported commodities like fuel, fertilizer and wheat, soon unravelled the fiscal sector. In 2004 alone Sri Lanka spent approximately US$ 180 mn on a fuel subsidy, as fixing fuel prices was an election promise.
To finance the expanded budget deficit arising from a range of subsidies and a public sector recruitment drive, the government eventually had to print Rs 65 bn (US$ 650 mn) or around 3% of GDP. The expansionary fiscal policy, coupled with loose monetary policy eventually drove inflation up to 18% by January 2005, as measured by the Sri Lanka Consumer Price Index.
By December 2004, the country was heading for a balance of payments crisis, as the currency depreciated and reserves dwindled. The December 26th Tsunami brought aidflows, and support from the IMF helped improve sentiment in the foreign exchange market. But GDP growth, which had climbed to 6.4% by the first quarter of 2004 had fallen to 4.8% by the first quarter of 2005. The tsunami helped stabilize the deterioration of macro-economic fundamentals as foreign debt relief and assistance from the International Monetary Fund strengthened both the external sector and fiscal operations.
A September 2005 IMF report called for an end to 'fiscal domination' of monetary policy and more independence for the Central Bank so that inflation could be contained.
In December 2005, Sri Lanka received its first international credit rating with Fitch Ratings assigning it a BB- (a rating held by Brazil and Indonesia among others).
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Railroads; route length 1,453 km (903 mi) (1990), passenger-km 2,484,700,000 (1,543,921,000 passenger-mi) (1990), cargo ton-km 167,000,000 (114,378,000 short ton-mi) (1990). Roads; length 25,684 km (15,959 mi) (1988). Vehicles; cars 155,194 (1988), trucks and buses 139,206 (1988). Merchant Marine; vessels 78 (1990), deadweight tonnage 528,102 (1990). Air Transport; passenger-km 3,424,000,000 (2,128,000,000 passenger-mi) (1990), cargo ton-km 91,198,000 (62,462,000 short ton-mi) (1990)
Daily Newspapers; total of 10 with a total circulation of 480,000 (1992). Radio; receivers 3,300,000 (1994). Television; receivers 700,000 (1994). Telephones; units 157,800 (1993).
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126,000 (1994) total active duty personnel with 83.3% army, 8.2% navy and 8.5% air force while military expenditure accounts for 4.8% (1993) of the Gross National Product (GNP)
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Link - Provides detailed information and statistics on Geography, People, Government, Economy, Communications, Transportation, Military and Transnational Issues. This is an invaluable resource for anyone looking for specific information or statistics relating to the country.
Link - World Bank Dat Profile provides key statistical information on People, Environment, Economy, Technology Infrastructure, Trade & Finance.
Link - link to a Wikipedia page providing a wealth of information from History and Culture through to Politics and Religion.
Link - link to the latest New Headlines for this country.
Link - link to Human Rights report for this country produces by Amnesty International.
Link - link to US Congress Country Study for this country. Contains comprehensive information on a wide range of topics, particularly good for historical context.
Link - link to GE Source World Guide providing country profile, demographics, economic data, satellite images.
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