Ethiopia Economy 2001

Economy - overview: Ethiopia's economy is based on agriculture, which accounts for half of GDP, 90% of exports, and 80% of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent periods of drought and poor cultivation practices, and as many as 4.6 million people need food assistance annually. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy, and Ethiopia earned $267 million in 1999 by exporting 105,000 metric tons. According to current estimates, coffee contributes 10% of Ethiopia's GDP. More than 15 million people (25% of the population) derive their livelihood from the coffee sector. Other exports include live animals, hides, gold, and qat. In December 1999, Ethiopia signed a $1.4 billion joint venture deal to develop a huge natural gas field in the Somali Regional State. The war with Eritrea forced the government to spend scarce resources on the military and to scale back ambitious development plans. Foreign investment has declined significantly. Government taxes imposed in late 1999 to raise money for the war depressed an already weak economy. The war forced the government to improve roads and other parts of the previously neglected infrastructure, but only certain regions of the nation benefited. Recovery from the war is mostly contingent on natural factors. A drought has continued into the end of 2000 and food relief is expected to be needed through mid-2001 at least. Ethiopia may receive Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief by the end of the year.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $39.2 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $600 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 45%
industry: 12%
services: 43% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 33.7% (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (2000 est.)

Labor force: NA

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 80%, government and services 12%, industry and construction 8% (1985)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $1 billion
expenditures: $1.48 billion, including capital expenditures of $415 million (FY96/97)

Industries: food processing, beverages, textiles, chemicals, metals processing, cement

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 1.625 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 3.08%
hydro: 96.92%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 1.511 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, sugarcane, potatoes, qat; hides, cattle, sheep, goats

Exports: $460 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Exports - commodities: coffee, gold, leather products, oilseeds, qat

Exports - partners: Germany 16%, Japan 13%, Djibouti 10%, Saudi Arabia 7% (1999 est.)

Imports: $1.25 billion (f.o.b., 1999)

Imports - commodities: food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles

Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 28%, Italy 10%, Russia 7%, US 6% (1999 est.)

Debt - external: $10 billion (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $367 million (FY95/96)

Currency: birr (ETB)

Currency code: ETB

Exchange rates: birr per US dollar (end of period) - 8.3140 (December 2000), 8.3140 (2000), 8.1340 (1999), 7.5030 (1998), 6.8640 (1997), 6.4260 (1996)
note: since May 1993, the birr market rate has been determined in an interbank market supported by weekly wholesale auction

Fiscal year: 8 July - 7 July

NOTE: The information regarding Ethiopia on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ethiopia Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ethiopia Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.