One of the world’s poorest countries, Sierra Leone has made significant progress in overcoming the economic and development challenges left by high population growth and a decade of civil war. Since the war’s end in 2002, GDP growth reached 5.6 percent in 2011 and is predicted to rise to 6 percent in 2012 (World Bank). While recent high global commodity prices and currency depreciation caused average inflation to increase to 18.5 percent in 2011, that number is expected to decline in 2012 to 8.5 percent (World Bank).
