| | On 27 June 1977, the French Territory of Afars and Issas became an independent state and assumed the name of Djibouti. The new republic, formed from the last outpost of France's African empire, was confronted with a number of daunting problems. According to one United Nations report, Djibouti inherited 'a frail economy with an inadequate economic and social infrastructure' . GDP per capita stood at under $115m, the country's only real sources of income being trade through the port and railway into Ethiopia, and the spending of around 20,000 French citizens residing mainly in Djibouti city. With a population of just 320,000, an exceptionally harsh climate and almost no agricultural or industrial sector on which to build, the prospects for economic development were remote. |
