Find Industry and Manufacturing expertise in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone holds the second-least competitive economy in the world (2012–13, World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report) with manufacturing contributing just 1.8% of GDP in 2011. The country is classified 140 out of 185 countries by the World Bank for ease of doing business, a ranking based on how conducive the regulatory environment is to the opening and operation of a local firm. From the low base, industrial production is estimated to be growing at a value added annual rate of 9.7%, and manufacturing at 15% (World Bank, 2011).

Industries in Sierra Leone cover diamond mining and petroleum refining alongside commercial ship repair. Extractive industries are popular in Sierra Leone due to the country’s wealth of diamonds, gold, bauxite, rutile and iron ore deposits, and mining now accounts for almost a third of GDP (CIA World Factbook, 2012). The mining sector is controlled by strict regulations, and mining licenses can be obtained only from the government. The manufacturing sector in Sierra Leone is small-scale, generally producing beverages, textiles, footwear and cigarettes.

Exports of goods and services made up 16.3% of GDP in 2011 according to the World Bank, an increase of 3.2% since 2008. The main export industries include diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee and fish, with more than half of all goods exported to China (CIA World Factbook, 2012).

The 2013 Global Competitiveness Report scores and ranks the sophistication of production processes around the world, where a low country score of 1 means “no sophistication and labour intensive” and a high score of 7 means production processes are the “world’s best and apply the most efficient  technologies”.  In this respect Sierra Leone ranks 140 out of 144 countries with a score of 2.3 out of 7.0.

The Chamber of Commerce helps to facilitate communication between companies and organisations, and the government.