Economy

The past 40 years of oil production have turned this small but strategically positioned Central African state into an upper middle-income economy. The country’s extractive industries are sizeable by global standards, with oil, timber and manganese being key exports. Following the 2008-09 financial crisis, GDP growth provided evidence of a recovery, reaching 7% in 2011 and 5% in 2012, according to the African Development Bank. With a current account and fiscal position persistently in surplus, Gabon has the resources to realise its ambitious public investment plans. The issue will be in balancing its books, namely the non-oil fiscal deficit, and in streamlining its regulatory framework to attract the private investment necessary to finance the target figure of 72% of investments planned by 2025. This chapter contains interviews with Magloire Ngambia, Minister of Investment Promotion, Public Works, Transport, Housing and Tourism; Henri-Claude Oyima, Director and Chairman, BGFI Bank; Nina Abouna, Director-General, Agency for the Promotion of Investment and Exports (APIEX); Yves Fernand Manfoumbi, Director-General of the Budget; and Richard Attias, Executive Chairman, Richard Attias & Associates.