Economy of East Timor
The economy of Timor-Leste is a low-income economy as ranked by the World Bank.[14] It is placed 140th on the Human Development Index, indicating a medium level of human development.[15] 20% of the population is unemployed,[1] and 52.9% live on less than $1.25 a day.[15] About half of the population is illiterate.[15] At 27%, East Timor's urbanisation rate is one of the lowest in the world.
Currency
US dollar (USD) and East Timor centavos[1]
Calendar year
- Least Developed[2]
- Low-income economy[3]
- agriculture: 9.1%
- industry: 56.7%
- services: 34.4%
- (2017)
0.96% (2019 est.)
28.7 (2014 est.)
581,000 (2022 est.)
1.79% (2022 est.)
printing, soap manufacturing, handicrafts, woven cloth
$60 million (2020 est.)
crude petroleum, natural gas, coffee, various vegetables, scrap iron
$850 million (2020 est.)
refined petroleum, cars, cement, delivery trucks, motorcycles
$279,000,000 (December 2013)
In 2007, a bad harvest caused a "major food crisis" in East Timor. By November, eleven sub-districts still needed food supplied by international aid.[16]
According to data gathered in the 2010 census, 87.7% of urban and 18.9% of rural households have electricity, for an overall average of 36.7%.[17]
History[edit]
Prior to and during colonisation, the island of Timor was best known for its sandalwood. The Portuguese colonial administration also granted concessions to Oceanic Exploration Corporation to develop oil and gas deposits. However, this was curtailed by the Indonesian invasion in 1976.
Petrochemical resources were divided between Indonesia and Australia with the Timor Gap Treaty in 1989.[18] The treaty established guidelines for joint exploitation of seabed resources in the area of the "gap" left by then-Portuguese Timor in the maritime boundary agreed between the two countries in 1972.[19] Revenues from the "joint" area were to be divided 50-50. Woodside Petroleum and ConocoPhillips began development of some resources in the Timor Gap on behalf of the two governments in 1992.
In late 1999, about 70% of the economic infrastructure of East Timor was destroyed by Indonesian troops and anti-independence militias,[1] and 260,000 people fled westward. From 2002 to 2005, an international program led by the United Nations, manned by civilian advisers, 5,000 peacekeepers (8,000 at peak) and 1,300 police officers, substantially reconstructed the infrastructure. By mid-2002, all but about 50,000 of the refugees had returned.
The economy grew by about 10% in 2011 and at a similar rate in 2012.[20]
While East Timor gained revenue from offshore oil and gas reserves, little of it has been spent on the development of villages, which still rely on subsistence farming.[21] As of 2012, nearly half the East Timorese population was living in extreme poverty.[21]