Africa Economy

Since 1953, when oil was first discovered near Port-Gentil, Gabon’s economy has been dominated by the petroleum industry. According to the BP “Statistical Review of World Energy 2012”, Gabon is the sixth-largest crude oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and has the region’s fourth-largest proven reserves.

The defining trait of Gabon’s political climate for the past 40 years has been that of stability. While the first decade of independence saw a modicum of unrest and a coup, the country has in general seen little of the turbulence that has plagued other countries in the region.

Straddling the equator along Central Africa’s western coast, Gabon is a former French colony of 1.5m people with a territory covered up to 85% by equatorial rainforest. Following the colonial period (1886-1960), the country’s first president, Léon Mba, ruled Gabon until his death in 1967. He was followed into office by Omar Bongo Ondimba, who...

The Mamluks, who descended from non-Arab slaves who were naturalised to serve and fight for ruling Arab dynasties, are revered as some of the greatest warriors the world has ever known. Although the word “mamluk” translates as “one who is owned”, the Mamluk soldiers proved otherwise, gaining a powerful military standing in various Muslim...

With its geographical location making it an ideal land bridge between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and one of the major channels of commerce between the Levant, Africa and Arabia, Egypt’s status as a centre of trade was already well established by the era of the Old Kingdom in the third millennium BC.

The country’s widening budget deficit and growing currency pressures seen since the uprising of 2011 have made the efficient use of revenues a primary concern of the Egyptian government. With Suez Canal receipts largely reliant on the fortunes of the global economy and the country’s tourism sector, Egypt’s other major revenue stream, suffering in...