Ethiopia economy: GDP, investment, trade and remittances
How large the Ethiopia economy is and how fast it is growing, who invests in it, what it sells and buys, how much its citizens abroad send home, who it owes and what it holds in reserve. The latest published year is shown with each figure.
Ethiopia economy snapshot: GDP, growth and income per person
Ethiopia's GDP was US$126.4 billion in 2025, after real growth of 9.8%.
GDP
Current US dollars.
Real GDP growth
Annual change, per cent. Red bars are contractions.
GDP per person
Current US dollars.
Source: World Bank, 2025. Method
Who invests in Ethiopia and in what
Direct investment by investing country
China was the largest investing country in Ethiopia, at 49% of inward direct investment positions in 2024.
Inward direct investment positions in Ethiopia at the end of 2024: the stock of foreign direct investment, not a year's new flow. The 10 largest investing countries.
The IMF data holds no positions reported by Ethiopia itself. The figures are derived by the IMF from what the investing countries report, so they are shown as reported by investing countries.
Source: IMF, 2024. Method
What Ethiopia sells and buys
Coffee, tea and spices was 43% of exports in 2023.
Ethiopia sold the most to Saudi Arabia, 10% of exports in 2023.
Exports by product, 2023
Tile area follows value. Each tile is a customs chapter of the Harmonized System; hover for the full name.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method
Top buyers, 2023
Share of Ethiopia's exports.
Top suppliers, 2023
Share of Ethiopia's imports.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method
What Ethiopia buys, 2023
The 8 largest product chapters in imports.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method
Trade balance of goods
Exports minus imports. Red bars are years when imports were larger. A year is left out when either side is not published.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method
Remittances against foreign direct investment in Ethiopia
Remittances to Ethiopia were 1.8 times foreign direct investment in 2024.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Remittances and investment as a share of GDP
The same two flows measured against the size of the economy.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Who Ethiopia owes
External debt stock by type of creditor. Creditor types cover public and publicly guaranteed debt; the grey part is the rest of the total external debt stock. A creditor type with no published figure is not shown.
Multilateral creditors held 43% of Ethiopia's external debt stock in 2024.
Public external debt owed to China was US$7.4 billion in 2024, 20% of the external debt stock.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Reserves and months of import cover
Total reserves including gold, and how many months of imports they cover.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Aid received by Ethiopia
Net official development assistance and official aid received.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
More on Ethiopia
World Bank data pages for Ethiopia: GDP, GDP growth, GDP per person, remittances, foreign direct investment, reserves, months of imports, external debt, debt by creditor, aid. UN Comtrade: trade data. IMF: direct investment positions.