Trade and Industry in Ethiopia since 1941

Описание: ‪@ethioforum‬ ‪@fetadailynews1‬ ‪@OBNoromiyaa‬ ‪@Nationalexam213‬ ‪@WashingtonPost‬ ‪@ebstvWorldwide‬ ‪@EBCworld‬ ‪@Geezism2022‬ ‪@hopemusicethiopia‬ ‪@EBCworld‬ #duet #dothingsyoudontwanttodo #indianindependencemovement #knowledge #greenscreen #haveitoldyoulatelythatiloveyou #indiannationalmovement #history #lifeisbutadream #europeancolonialism In the 1960s, trade constituted only 7 percent of the Gross
Domestic Products (GDP) whereas the industrial sector represented a very small
part of the total economy. For example, in l975 the industrial sector accounted for
less than 5 percent of the GDP and employed only about 60,000 people.
Nevertheless, the changes brought by the Italians were limited. In the post-liberation period, a small proportion of the population participated in the money economy,
and there was a low rate of circulation of goods. Wage labor was also limited, economic units were largely self-sufficient, foreign trade was negligible, and the market
for manufactured goods was extremely small. Much of the economy remained unchanged during the late 1940s and 1950s.
Agricultural products constituted the bulk of the country’s exports. The major export items were: coffee, which accounted 50 - 65 percent of the total exports of the
country. Next to coffee, there were also hides and skins, as well as pulses and oilseeds. On the other hand, the major Ethiopian imports were textiles, machinery, and
chemicals. Ethiopia’s foreign trade partners were the USA, which was the major importer of the country’s coffee (about 70%), Italy, and Japan. In more broad terms,
from 1953 to 1974, the balance of trade registered annual deficits. To improve the
trade balance, the government attempted to restrict imports and replace them with
locally produced industrial goods to improve the trade balance. Despite these efforts,
however, the unfavorable trade balance continued. As a result, foreign grants and
loans financed much of the balance of payments deficit.
The post-independence period witnessed some continuity and change regarding the
country’s domestic trade. Addis Ababa continued as the commercial centre of the
country. But inside Addis, the pre-war commercial center of the city, Arada (renamed
by the Italians as Piazza) was replaced by Mercato. In this period, the role of the
Greek, Armenian, and Arab traders as economic intermediaries between Ethiopia
and the outside world faced a serious challenge from an emerging class of national
traders. Even then, a small number of Ethiopians were involved in import and export
trade.
Since the early 1950s, the Ethiopian government has renewed its call for a transition
from a subsistence economy to an agro-industrial economy. A key element of the
emperor’s new economic policy was the adoption of centrally administered development plans. In the period between l945 and l957, several technical missions, from