ion: Ambassador
Tibor P. NAGY, Jr.

embassy: Entoto Street, Addis Ababa

mailing address: P. O. Box 1014, Addis Ababa

telephone: [251] (1) 550666

FAX: [251] (1) 551328

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top),
yellow, and red with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays
emanating from the angles between the points on a light blue disk
centered on the three bands; Ethiopia is the oldest independent
country in Africa, and the colors of her flag were so often adopted
by other African countries upon independence that they became known
as the pan-African colors

Ethiopia Economy

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 p