CLIMATE

Agriculture
The Ethiopian economy is dominated by peasant agriculture, with the agricultural sector contributing about 50 per cent to the total GDP, accounting for 85 per cent of export and total employment. The country's export is highly dependent on a single crop, coffee, generating nearly 60 per cent of the foreign exchange earnings.

Livestock
Although its contribution to the national economy is very limited, the country's livestock wealth is the largest in Africa

Labor Force
The total labor force of the country constitutes about 48 per cent of the population. The country is richly endowed with huge manpower, arable land and natural resources. However, much of its potential still waits to be put in to use.

Land
out of the sixty per cent of its land mass which is known to have a potential for agricultural development, only 15 per cent is said to have been developed.

Mineral
Although Ethiopia is rich in mineral deposits and precious metals, the mining sector is small and underdeveloped. Few of the country’s mineral resources include gold, platinum, marble, tantalite, copper, potash, soda-ash, zinc, nickel, iron and natural gas. It contributes about 2% to the Gross Domestic Product.

Energy
The country is endowed with a variety of renewable and non-renewable energy resources. However, energy consumption in the country is among the lowest in the world. Per capita energy consumption is below the sub-Saharan African average. More than half the rural energy requirement is derived from wood, and this has become one of the major causes of deforestation.

Tourism
Recently tourism, from a zero base, has already become the country’s second biggest foreign-exchange earner after coffee. Tourists exceeding hundred thousand visit the country annually. One of the main reasons for this remarkable change could be attributed to the recent liberalization measure taken on visa requirements. About 33 countries can take their visas up on arrival on Bole International Airport. The tourism policies of the country include:

- To promote Tourism potentials of the country.
- To improve and expand Tourist service facilities.
- Preservation of Natural and man-made Tourist attraction, and conservation of wild life.
- Improve, develop and expand tourism infrastructure.

Manufacturing Sector
The level of development of the manufacturing sector in Ethiopia is at its infancy; and the country's industrial base is very low. The share of intermediate and capital goods industry is very insignificant. The industrial sector is heavily dependent on imports of semi-processed goods, raw materials, spare-parts and fuel. In addition to imported inputs, the factories depend upon backward and subsistence agriculture for their raw material demand. The manufacturing industry, including small-scale and handicrafts, contributes about 11% to GDP and 15% of the total exports . Furthermore, about 3% of total employment is engaged in manufacturing industry. Out of the country's limited number of manufacturing industries, consumer goods producing industries contribute more than half of the sector's output.

Export
Ethiopia's export is mainly dependent on primary products, specially coffee, pulses, oilseeds, leather and leather products, live animals, sugar and molasses, meat, fruits and vegetables, gold others. The export structure is not a diversified one and is highly dominated by a single crop coffee, generating about 60% of the foreign exchange

Import
On the import front Ethiopia's major imports constitute raw material, semi-finished goods (mainly chemicals, fertilizers, textile materials and others), fuel, capital goods, as well durable and non-durable consumer goods.

Transport
Modern transport in Ethiopia is dominated by road transport accounting for more than 90% of freight and passenger transport. The country has the lowest road densit in the world. Only about 20% of the highway network is paved, with few interconnecting links between adjacent regions. The feeder-road network system is grossly insufficient. As a result, large parts of the country remain isolated and dependent entirely on pack animals or human carriers for transport.

Economic Policy
The development strategy adopted in August 1992 set the country's strategy to be Agricultural Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI). Major principles of economic policy adopted by the present government in 1992 are:

- reducing the role of the state in the economy;
- promoting domestic and foreign private investment;
- enhancing popular/community/participation in development;
- mobilizing external resources; and
- Involving regional administrations in economic management

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACK TO: Introduction// Historical Overview// Climate// Vegitation and biodiversity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------