bout 70% of the economic infrastructure
of Timor-Leste was laid waste by Indonesian troops and
anti-independence militias. Three hundred thousand people fled
westward. Over the next three years a massive international program,
manned by 5,000 peacekeepers (8,000 at peak) and 1,300 police
officers, led to substantial reconstruction in both urban and rural
areas. By the end of 2005, refugees had returned or had settled in
Indonesia. The country continues to face great challenges in
rebuilding its infrastructure, strengthening the civil
administration, and generating jobs for young people entering the
work force. The development of oil and gas resources in offshore
waters has begun to supplement government revenues ahead of schedule
and above expectations - the result of high petroleum prices. The
technology-intensive industry, however, has done little to create
jobs for the unemployed because there are no production facilities
in Timor. Gas is piped to Australia. In June 2005 the National
Parliament unanimously approved the creation of a Petroleum Fund to
serve as a repository for all petroleum revenues and preserve the
value of Timor-Leste's petroleum wealth for future generations. The
Fund held assets of US$1.8 billion as of September 2007. The
mid-2006 outbreak of violence and civil unrest disrupted both
private and public sector economic activity and created 100,000
internally displaced persons - about 10 percent of the population.
While real non-oil GDP growth in 2006 was negative, the economy
probably rebounded in 2007. The underlying economic policy challenge
the country faces remains how best to use oil-and-gas wealth to lift
the non-oil economy onto a higher growth path and reduce poverty. In
late 2007, the new government announced plans aimed at increasing
spending, reducing poverty, and improving the country's
infrastructure, but it continues to face capacity constraints. In
the short term, the government must also address continuing problems
related to the crisis of 2006, especially the displaced Timorese.

Togo
This small, sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both
commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment
for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be
imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export
earnings with cotton being the most important cash crop. Togo is the
worl