Economy of Djibouti

The still underdeveloped economy of Djibouti depends on a large community of expatriates from the port of Djibouti, the airport and the operation of the railway line from Addis Ababa to Djibouti.

In the colonial period, the colonial power, France was characterized as exploitative force in the former Afar and Issa territory. It both population was exploited as workers, as well as was overexploitation of meager nature of the desert state operated. During the civil war from 1991 to 1994, much of the spending on development and welfare of the state budget was spent on the military.

Agriculture and industry are poorly developed, partly because of unfavorable climatic conditions, high production costs, the poor educational level of the workforce and the limited natural resources.

Djibouti now has very little mineral deposits, and the dry soil is inefficient: 89 % of the country is desert or wasteland, 10 % are pastures and 1% makes the forest area. The largest share of value added have services and trade.