Gabon

LA SITUATION ÉCONOMIQUE DU GABON est marquée par un double paradoxe. D’un côté, les indicateurs économiques sont restés positifs en 2008, malgré la crise mondiale. De l’autre, la faiblesse des indicateurs sociaux contraste toujours avec les richesses et le potentiel du pays. Le Gabon est exposé à moyen terme à la dégradation des marchés internationaux, en raison d’une économie trop tributaire des hydrocarbures et axée sur l’exportation des matières premières. La filière bois souffre déjà d’une forte contraction de la demande.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS REMAINED positive in 2008 despite the global recession but social indicators still contrast sharply with the country’s wealth and potential. In the medium term, Gabon is exposed to deteriorating world markets as the economy is over-dependent on oil and gas and is based on mineral exports. The forestry sector is already suffering from a strong contraction in demand.

THE LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS IN December 2006 inaugurated a year of institutional stability in Gabon. To no great surprise, the President’s Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) won 82 of the 120 seats in theNational Assembly. This political stability provides the authorities with a favourable environment for deepening structural reforms aimed at diversifying the economy and rendering public finances viable in the long term.

Gabon is an intermediate-income country in per capita terms, but while GDP is growing, the UN Human Development Report for 20041 says the country has slipped in the Human Development Index. Thus, the assumption that good economic performance also advances human development does not hold true in Gabon, where poverty is increasing.

AU REGARD DU REVENU PAR HABITANT, le Gabon se classe parmi les pays à revenu intermédiaire. Cependant, alors que la croissance du PIB progresse, le rapport mondial 2004 des Nations unies sur le développement humain1 constate un recul du pays dans le classement établi selon les paramètres de l’IDH (indicateur du développement humain). La corrélation positive présumée entre les performances économiques et le développement humain ne se vérifie donc pas au Gabon, où la pauvreté gagne du terrain.

IN MAY 2004, AFTER TWO YEARS of negotiations with the IMF and on completing its efforts to make structural adjustments and settle its external debt, Gabon obtained a 14-month stand-by agreement with the IMF. Domestic debt to the private sector piled up in 2002 and 2003, however, leading to a deterioration in companies’ cash positions and to job losses in some sectors. During the same period, the non-oil sector, which is heavily...

With an annual per capita income of more than $3 700 in 2001 and a purchasing power parity (PPP) of $6 200 in 2000, Gabon is one of Africa’s richest countries. However, it went through a serious economic crisis in 1999 and only slightly recovered from this in 2000 and 2001, thanks to the strength of the non-oil sector and a less-than-expected drop in oil production. The economy still suffers from erratic public expenditure, dependence on diminishing oil output and negligible diversification. In the medium term, declining oil revenue threatens government resources, the country’s investment capacity and the stability of the banking sector. As a result, the expected 1 per cent GDP growth in 2002 may fall to –2.1 per cent in 2003. The end of the oil bonanza is especially serious because Gabon has poor social indicators, despite its high per capita income, and a heavy external debt for which it cannot claim relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative...