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2022
Economic Complexity
Research -0.51Rank 86 of 135
2022
Product
Exports | Imports $1.15B | $1.72B159 of 226 |  168 of 226
2022
Per Capita Product
Exports | Imports $133 | $199162 of 220 |  204 of 220

About

Overview In 2022 Sierra Leone was the number 159 economy in the world in terms of total exports and the number 168 in total imports.

Exports The top exports of Sierra Leone are Iron Ore ($477M), Titanium Ore ($221M), Diamonds ($101M), Rough Wood ($74.2M), and Aluminium Ore ($51.4M), exporting mostly to China ($622M), Belgium ($136M), United Arab Emirates ($64.6M), Germany ($47.6M), and Netherlands ($43.2M).

Imports The top imports of Sierra Leone are Rice ($161M), Refined Petroleum ($58.1M), Vaccines, blood, antisera, toxins and cultures ($51.9M), Packaged Medicaments ($48.1M), and Cars ($47.1M), importing mostly from China ($573M), India ($201M), Turkey ($156M), United States ($99.6M), and United Arab Emirates ($86.8M).

Location Sierra Leone borders Guinea and Liberia by land.

Latest Trends

Latest Trade

Flow
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Y-AXIS SCALE

The following section uses the most recent trade data from partners of Sierra Leone.

Disclaimer: data is presented based on availability and only countries that use the harmonized system are being shown.

* Trade values are converted to USD using each month's exchange rate. For December 2023 data, the exchange rate from December 30, 2023 is used.

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Latest Data

Flow
Color
Depth

The data obtained is mirror data. The trade of countries that do not report current data can be reconstructed based on data reported by partner countries with current data available.

*All data is converted to USD using January 2020 exchange rates when data is reported in local currency.

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Historical Data

Yearly Trade

Flow
Color
Depth
Top Export (2022)Iron Ore$477M
Top Destination (2022)China$622M

In 2022, Sierra Leone exported a total of $1.15B, making it the number 159 exporter in the world. During the last five reported years the exports of Sierra Leone have changed by $244M from $902M in 2017 to $1.15B in 2022.

The most recent exports are led by Iron Ore ($477M), Titanium Ore ($221M), Diamonds ($101M), Rough Wood ($74.2M), and Aluminium Ore ($51.4M). The most common destination for the exports of Sierra Leone are China ($622M), Belgium ($136M), United Arab Emirates ($64.6M), Germany ($47.6M), and Netherlands ($43.2M).

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Exports (2022)
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Destinations (2022)
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Market Growth

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Growth
Fastest Growing Export Markets (2021 - 2022)
China$292M (+ 88.5%)
India$21.8M (+ 148%)
Ireland$20.7M (+ 4.7k%)
Fastest Growing Import Markets (2021 - 2022)
China$91.5M (+ 19%)
South Africa$34.1M (+ 106%)
Turkey$23.1M (+ 17.3%)

Total Export Growth by Market (2021 - 2022)

Potential Exports

Potential Exports

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Service Trade

Service Trade

Sierra Leone Exports Services (2018)$116M
Sierra Leone Imports Services (2018)$404M

In 2018, Sierra Leone exported $116M worth of services. The top services exported by Sierra Leone in 2018 were Personal travel ($20.5M), Other business services ($19.6M), Business travel ($18.2M), Transportation ($18M), and Computer and information services ($15.9M).

The top services imported by Sierra Leone in 2018 were Transportation ($150M), Other business services ($111M), Personal travel ($47.5M), Computer and information services ($35.4M), and Insurance services ($35.1M).

Service Exports (2018)

Service Imports (2018)

Economic Complexity

Overview

Economic Complexity (Research)-0.51Rank 86 of 135

Most Specialized Products by RCA Index

Sierra Leone has a high level of specialization in Titanium Ore (1.34k), Niobium, Tantalum, Vanadium and Zirconium Ore (251), Aluminium Ore (147), Rough Wood (99.2), and Cocoa Beans (95.8). Specialization is measured using RCA, an index that takes the ratio between Sierra Leone observed and expected exports in each product.

Most Complex Products by PCI

The highest complexity exports of Sierra Leone according to the product complexity index (PCI) are Electrical resistors (including rheostats and potentiometers), excluding heating resistors (1.05), Thermionic, cold cathode or photo-cathode valves and tubes (e.g. vacuum, vapour, gas... (0.98), Safes; armoured or reinforced, strong-boxes, doors and safe deposit lockers for strong-rooms,... (0.77), Machinery, apparatus and equipment (excluding machines of headings 8456 to 8465) for... (0.74), and Transfers (decalcomanias) (0.6). PCI measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.

Export Opportunities by Relatedness

The top export opportunities for Sierra Leone according to the relatedness index, were Cocoa Shells (0.086), Gold (0.063), Manganese Ore (0.063), Rubber (0.06), and Crude Petroleum (0.058). Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product. The barchart show only products that Sierra Leone is not specialized in.

Product Space

The product space is a network connecting products that are likely to be co-exported. The product space can be used to predict future exports, since countries are more likely to start exporting products that are related to current exports. Relatedness measures the distance between a product, and all of the products a country currently specializes in.

Relatedness Space

This network shows the products most related to the production structure of Sierra Leone. These are products that tend to be co-exported with the products that Sierra Leone exports. Higher relatedness values ​​indicate greater knowledge, which predicts a greater probability of exporting that product in the future.

Relatedness Space (2022)

Diversification Frontier

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Depth

The Complexity-Relatedness diagram compares the risk vs strategic value of a country's potential export oppotunities. Relatedness is predictive of the probability that a country increases its exports in a product. Complexity, is associated with higher levels of income, economic growth, less income inequality, and lower greenhouse emissions.

Diversification Frontier

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