We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from PART I - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
This volume offers a forward-looking perspective on the economic development of East Timor. It traces the country's ‘initial conditions’, assesses and adapts the lessons of international experience, and contains detailed discussions and recommendations across a broad range of subjects. Very few countries are commencing the long march towards economic development in such an ill-prepared state. Centuries of Portuguese colonial occupation and neglect were followed by almost one-quarter of a century of troubled and sometimes brutal Indonesian rule, though with quite rapid economic development for a period. Then, in the wake of the August 1999 vote for independence, there was massive destruction on the part of the militias and departing Indonesian military. The country reverted temporarily to UN administration, with an impossibly ambitious timetable for independence.
The country's starting point could hardly be more difficult.
• It is an extremely poor country, with a per capita income of about S300.1 This is broadly equivalent to the income of the poorest states of mainland Southeast Asia, and that of Portugal's former African colonies, but well below that of most small Pacific Island and Caribbean nations.
• About 70 per cent of its building stock was substantially or partially destroyed in September-October 1999. In that tragic year, East Timor's GDP was estimated to have declined by about one-third.
• There was massive population resettlement and dislocation in that year. At the time of writing (May 2001), about 10 per cent of the country's pre-1999 population still resides abroad, mostly in squalid refugee camps across the border in West Timor.
• Much of the commercial expertise fled in 1999 and is unlikely to return.
• The country lacks high-level bureaucratic capacity. During the Indonesian period, senior echelons were dominated by non-Timorese; currently, UN officials occupy most senior positions.
• The country doesn't have a constitution or a legal system; land ownership disputes are rife.[…]
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
