Economy of the Ethiopian Empire
In medieval times, neighboring state Emirate of Harar became the center of commerce while imports and exports passed through the port of Zeila, operated by Muslim merchants, delivering commodities to the Abyssinians through Aliyu Amba a town in Ifat, which connected the Shewa.
[3] After the end of the Italian occupation, the National Economic Council embarked on a state development plan in 1954, led by a policy-making body headed by Emperor Selassie to improve agriculture and industry productivity, literacy and well-being, and the standard of living.
Scholars have classified the Ethiopian dominion in terms of the geographical and cultural sphere of the Amhara and Tigrayan people in the northern provinces of Ethiopia whose conquest was based on freehold patterns of the southern regions.
Their dependent households and communities were visible to the wider social system in reciprocity among kinship and associational groupings, and by collection and redistribution of taxes, tribute, and political and religious leaders and marketing goods and services in barter and cash economies.
[10] Scholars of Ethiopian studies argue that peasants were greatly affected by continual extreme natural and human-made dangers, such as looting, disease and famine, pest infestations, seasonal fluctuations of rivers and streams, and soil erosion in highland areas.
[11] During early Ethiopian expansion, highland areas such as Wag and Lasta, and through Shewa across the Great Rift Valley were places of political, cultural and economic agglomeration.
Locally produced woven clothing, earrings, bracelets, wax, butter, honey, mules, sorghum, wheat karanji (a bread used by travellers), ghee and all kinds of tallow were imported to Harar and exported to other parts of the world.
[14] According to Henry Salt, Tigre people sold wrought iron to make plowshares and other articles, cattle, equines, skins, corn, cotton, butter, onions, and baskets of red peppers.
In May 1903, John Lane Harrington, the British plenipotentiary to Ethiopia, supported Menelik's desire and asked him not to reject Whitehall's interest to formulate a proposal.
[15] Britain's undue authority seemed to have appeared in the early stages of the planning, which was supported by economist Gebrehiwot Baykedagn, but Harrington feared the concession would give political weight to the French railway.
According to the agreement, the bank could engage in commercial business (selling shares, accepting deposits, and effecting payments in checks) and issue banknotes.
The bank quickly began to expand, opening branches in Harar, Dire Dawa, Gore, and Dembidolo, with agencies in Gambela and a transit office in Djibouti.
[16][17] Under Haile Selassie's rule, agriculture was the primary industry in Ethiopia, consisting mostly of coffee production,[18] with a feudal system that relied on inequitable land ownership.
[19][21] The project managers failed to achieve the objectives because they did not identify the resources (personnel, equipment, and funds) needed to continue large-scale economic development during the first plan, hampering the growth of the gross national product (GNP).
