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Business Profile
Economy: Subsistence agriculture, forestry and fishing sustain most of the population. The sole export products are coffee beans and sandalwood. The economy as a whole was chronically underdeveloped as a result of centuries of neglect by the Portuguese. The Indonesians built some basic infrastructure (roads, power, telecommunications), but most of that was destroyed or removed by the Indonesians themselves and their client militias in the aftermath of the August 1999 vote for independence (see History and Government section). Since then, East Timor’s principal source of income has been international aid. However, the new country’s originally poor economic prospects have now been transformed by the discovery of large oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea, which lies between Timor itself and the north coast of Australia. Under the terms of a deal negotiated between East Timor and Australia, Dili will receive 90 per cent of the revenues from the fields, providing an annual revenue of around US$180 million from 2006. (Additional oil and gas deposits have also been discovered in the same area.) Until then, East Timor will remain one of the world’s poorest nations, with a per capita annual income of US$430. Within a generation, however, it may well be bracketed with other small petro-states such as Brunei and Qatar.
Commercial Information: Limited information and advice is available from the Department for Economic Affairs and Planning (e-mail: economic.affairs@gov.east-timor.org; website: www.gov.east-timor.org).
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