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Gabon’s banking sector is heavily concentrated – a trait of many of the continent’s financial service industries – with the only privately owned local player in an outsized role. However, African banking groups have been rapidly growing their market share. Pushed down by macroeconomic headwinds, lending fell and distressed debt levels rose in 2015, but the sector showed signs of recovery in early 2016. In the short term the fortunes of the banking sector will remain dependent on the wider economic situation, which is in turn heavily linked to the international price of oil. However, government reform efforts at public banks should help put the industry on a more stable long-term footing, and plans for a new payment incidents registry and credit bureau should also boost the sophistication of payment methods and credit provision in coming years. This chapter includes a dialogue with Claude Ayo-Iguendha, Director-General, BICIG; and Abdelaziz Yaaqoubi, Director-General, UGB; and an interview with Séverin Anguilé, President, Federation of Gabonese Insurance Companies.

In a global environment of low oil prices, the Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan has sought to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons since 2010. As such, over recent years the government has increased development of the hydropower sector, as well as expanding the country’s large natural gas supplies. Despite the oil crisis, Gabon remains very much dependent on oil revenues. The government is counting on the 11th licensing round to generate renewed interest in the industry and boost declining national production. Perhaps the biggest upcoming change expected to alter the energy sector is the growth of gas production, with new offshore deposits paving the way for output to increase. While the complexity of the deposits may limit export competitiveness, the steadily rising domestic need for power and the launch of new petrochemicals and fertiliser plants should ensure ample demand for deepwater gas. This chapter contains interviews with Etienne Dieudonné Ngoubou, Minister of Petrol and Hydrocarbons; Guy Maurice, Senior Vice-President for Africa, Total E&P; Jean Paul Camus, Director-General, Société d’Energie et d’Eau du Gabon.

The economy of Gabon has been driven in large part by its abundant wealth of natural resources, which have allowed it to support one of the highest per capita GDPs on the continent. However, the country’s economy reached a critical juncture in 2016, with the decrease in the international price of oil since mid-2014 having both highlighted the need for and increased the urgency of plans to diversify the hydrocarbons-dependent economy, while simultaneously reducing the availability of government financing to achieve this transformation. Economic diversification efforts are set to bear increasingly fruitful yields in the coming years – though persistent low oil prices would limit the availability of investment in such efforts and attendant infrastructure improvements, potentially slowing the pace – with several major agribusiness projects coming on-stream. This should help to underpin strong non-oil growth and move the country towards a more stable and sustainable footing. This chapter includes interviews with Régis Immongault, Minister of Economy, Forecasting and Development Programming; Madeleine Berre, Minister of the Promotion of Private Investment, Trade, Tourism and Industry; Nina Abouna, Director-General, National Investment Promotion Agency; Jean-Bernard Boumah, President, Gabonese Employers’ Confederation; and Abdellah Abbad, President, Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services – Rabat-Salé-Kénitra Region, Morocco.

With more physicians per head than the UK and a lower mortality rate for children under five than the US, Dubai can boast of a world-class health care system by some measures. However, in the face of rapid population growth and the quest for a more comprehensive offering of clinical specialities, much is left to be done in Dubai’s health care system. As of the first quarter of 2015, health officials said 18 private hospitals were under construction, and it has been predicted that if the pace of growth in the commercial health sector is maintained, an additional 1500 beds will be required by 2020. In September 2016 Dubai will welcome its first co-educational cohort of students to a new university medical college. The year will also mark the final stage of the introduction of the emirate’s mandatory health insurance scheme. This chapter contains an interview with Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Chairperson, Dubai Healthcare City Authority; and Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman and Director-General, Dubai Health Authority (DHA).

The past 15 years have seen major advances in capital markets activity in Dubai. The financial sector free zone, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has gone from idea to reality, and the emirate recently became the world’s largest market for sukuk (Islamic bonds). However, development has been uneven across types of capital markets offerings based on local demand patterns. New equity and bond offerings remain relatively underdeveloped, as most entrepreneurs in the emirate and the region are already well capitalised thanks to wealth accrued over years of oil exporting. Dubai aims to build on its growing reputation as a regional financial centre, and that has led to continued efforts by the government and major private sector leaders to encourage more breadth and depth in capital markets. This chapter contains an interview with Essa Kazim, Chairman, Dubai Financial Market (DFM).