Gabon 

Gabon country policy

Policy established 04 April 2011

• The country ceiling is 1000 mln euro
• Early warning signal 100 mln euro
• - of which was used as at 2011-08-31 0 mln euro

Country class: 5

Overheidskopers: ILC, bankgarantie, overheidsgarantie (onvoorwaardelijk)

Particulieren: ILC of bankgarantie (voorwaardelijk)

Public buyers: ILC, bank or sovereign g'tee (unconditional)

Private buyers: ILC or bank g'tee (may be waived)

Gabon country facts

Atradius Dutch State Business Economic Research  

Country Report last updated :  20 April 2010
Country :  GABON 

Political Situation
Unrest In 2009 Was Limited

Head of state
Ali Bongo is president after his father Omar Bongo died suddenly in June 2009. His father was the longest serving head of an African state. 

Form of government
Coalition government formed by PDG, which won 2006 legislative elections and maintains an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly.

Member of
UN, IMF, IBRD, OAU, AfDB, CFA Franc Zone.

Internal Economic Situation
Economy Highly Dependent On Oil

General situation
The economy has contracted with 1% last year and is expected to recover to an economic growth of 2.8% in 2010. Support comes from investments and government spending. Economy is dependent on oil and on medium term it faces a declining oil production. Due to investment in mature oilfields and new small oilfields coming on stream oil production increased in the last years. Diversifying the economy is a main priority of the government. The non-oil sector was boosted by foreign direct investment in the mining and forestry sector. Inflation will increase to 4.5% in 2010 from 2% last year. 

 
External Economic Situation
Current Account Surplus

Main sources of foreign exchange
Oil, timber, manganese and uranium.

Main foreign markets
US (32.4%), China (15.6%) and France (9.3%)

Main expenses of foreign exchange
Food and capital goods, mainly from France (28.3%)

Balance of payments 
Due to drop in oil prices CA surplus declined sharply from 17.4% GDP to 4% GDP.