Ethiopia Economy 1997

Economy - overview Ethiopia continues to face difficult economic problems as one of thepoorest and least developed countries in the world. Its economy is based onagriculture, which accounts for more than half of GDP, 90% of exports, and80% of total employment; coffee generates 60% of export earnings. The agriculturalsector suffers from frequent periods of drought, poor cultivation practices,and deterioration of internal security conditions. The manufacturing sectoris heavily dependent on inputs from the agricultural sector. Over 90% of large-scaleindustry, but less than 10% of agriculture, is state-run. The government isconsidering selling off a portion of state-owned plants and is implementingreform measures that are gradually liberalizing the economy. A major medium-termproblem is the improvement of roads, water supply, and other parts of an infrastructurebadly neglected during years of civil strife.

GDP purchasing power parity - $24.8 billion (1995 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 7.7% (1995 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $430 (1995 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 57%
industry: 10%
services: 33% (1994 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 10% (1995 est.)

Labor force
total: 18 million
by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 80%, government and services 12%, industryand 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 - capacity 630,000 kW (1991)

Electricity - production 1.27 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita 23 kWh (1994 est.)

Agriculture - products cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, sugarcane, potatoes, other vegetables;hides, cattle, sheep, goats

Exports
total value : $423 million (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: coffee, leather products, gold (1995)
partners: Germany 18%, Japan 13%, Djibouti 10%, Saudi Arabia 8% (1993)

Imports
total value: $1.15 billion (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals (1995)
partners : Saudi Arabia 13.3%, Italy 11.6%, US 10.2%, Germany 9.1%, Japan (1993)

Debt - external $4.3 billion (1995 est.)

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

Currency 1 birr (Br) = 100 cents

Exchange rates birr (Br) per US$1 (end of period) - 6.4260 (December 1996), 6.4260(1996), 6.3200 (1995), 5.9500 (1994), 5.0000 (fixed rate 1992-93); fixed at2.070 before 1992
note: since May 1993, the birr market rate has been determined in an interbankmarket supported by weekly wholesale auction; prior to that date, the officialrate was pegged to US$1 = 5.000 birr

Fiscal year 8 July - 7 July

NOTE: The information regarding Ethiopia on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ethiopia Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ethiopia Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.