NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Economy of Gabon

Gabon enjoys a per capita income four times that of most nations of sub-Saharan Africa. This has supported a sharp decline in extreme poverty; yet because of high income inequality a large proportion of the population remains poor. Gabon depended on timber and manganese until oil was discovered offshore in the early 1970s. The oil sector now accounts for 50% of GDP and 80% of exports. Oil production is now declining from its apogee of 370,000 barrels per day in 1997. The 1998 fall-off in oil prices had a negative impact on government revenues and the economy. Little thought or plans have been made for an after-oil scenario. Gabon public expenditures from the years of significant oil revenues have not been spent efficiently. Overspending on the Transgabonais railroad, the oil price shock of 1986, and the franc CFA devaluation of 1994 have caused debt problems. Gabon has earned a poor reputation with the Paris Club and the IMF for poor management of its debt and revenues. IMF missions (related to the now lapsed EFF program) have criticized the government for over-spending on off-budget items (in good years and bad), over-borrowing from the Central Bank, and slipping on the schedule for privatization and administrative reform. The per capita income for a group of people may be defined as their total personal income, divided by the number of people. ... A satellite composite image of Africa showing the ecological break between North and Sub-Saharan regions Sub-Saharan Africa, Africa south of the Sahara Desert, is the term used to describe those countries of Africa that are not part of North Africa. ... Extreme poverty is a severe state of poverty in which people are unable to have basic human necessities, such as food, clothes, and shelter. ... Timber Timber is a term used to describe wood throughout its processing from the time it is planned for use in industrial products to the time it is used as a structural material or in other industrial product, such as wood pulp for paper production. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Latin petra â€“ rock and oleum â€“ oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths crust. ... Offshore may refer to oil and natural gas production at sea, see oil platform. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil production and depletion. ...

Gabon's oil revenues have given it a strong per capita GDP of more than $4,000, extremely high for the region. On the other hand, a skewed income distribution and poor social indicators are evident. The economy is highly dependent on extraction of abundant primary materials. After oil, timber and manganese mining are the other major sectors. Gabon continues to face fluctuating prices for its oil, timber, manganese, and uranium exports. Foreign and Gabonese observers have consistently lamented the lack of transformation of primary materials in the Gabonese economy. Various factors have so far stymied more diversification (a small market of 1 million people, dependence on French imports, inability to capitalize on regional markets, lack of entrepreneurial zeal among the Gabonese, and the fairly regular stream of oil "rent"). The small processing and service sectors are largely dominated by just a few prominent local investors. General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block ?, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic Atomic mass 238. ...

In 1992, the fiscal deficit widened to 2.4% of GDP, and Gabon failed to settle arrears on its bilateral debt, leading to a cancellation of rescheduling agreements with official and private creditors. Devaluation of its Francophone currency by 50% on 12 January 1994 sparked a one-time inflationary surge, to 35%; the rate dropped to 6% in 1996. The IMF provided a one-year standby arrangement in 1994-95 and a three-year Enhanced Financing Facility (EFF) at near commercial rates beginning in late 1995. Those agreements mandate progress in privatization and fiscal discipline. France provided additional financial support in January 1997 after Gabon had met IMF targets for mid-1996. In 1997, an IMF mission to Gabon criticized the government for overspending on off-budget items, over-borrowing from the central bank, and slipping on its schedule for privatization and administrative reform. The rebound of oil prices in 1999 helped growth, but drops in production hampered Gabon from fully realizing potential gains. Bilateralism is a term referring to trade or political relations between two states. ... Devaluation is reduction in the value of a currency. ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing global financial system‘s current trade account balances of member states. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ...

GDP: purchasing power parity - $7.9 billion (7.9 G$) (1999 est.) In economics, purchasing power refers to the amount of goods and services a given amount of money -- or, more generally, liquid assets -- can buy. ... The word billion and its equivalents in other languages, refer to one of two different numbers. ...

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 10%
industry: 60%
services: 30% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Labour force - by occupation: agriculture 60%, services and government 25%, industry and commerce 15% Services are: plural of service Tertiary sector of industry IRC services Web services the name of a first-class cricket team in India This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Budget:
revenues: $1.5 billion
expenditures: $1.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $302 million (1996 est.)

Industries: food and beverage; textile; lumbering and plywood; cement; petroleum extraction and refining; manganese, uranium, and gold mining; chemical production; ship repair The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids, see Drinking. ... A textile is any type of material made from fibers or other extended linear materials such as thread or yarn (1). ... Plywood was the first type of engineered wood to be invented. ... In the general sense, a cement (Latin caementum) is any material with adhesive properties. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block ?, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic Atomic mass 238. ... Gold mining consists of the processes and techniques employed in the removal of gold from the ground. ... Chemical tanks in Lillebonne, France Chemical industry includes those industries involved in the production of petrochemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers, paints, oleochemicals etc. ...

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 27.8%
hydro: 72.2%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Agriculture - products: cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber; cattle; okoume (a tropical softwood); fish Cocoa may refer to either the dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree, which are used to make chocolate; or, more usually in the United States, to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding the seeds and removing the cocoa butter. ... Coffee beans and a cup of coffee Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant. ... A sugar is a carbohydrate which is sweet to taste. ... Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the Oil palm tree. ... Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Rainbow arching over a paddock of cattle Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Gaboon (Aucoumea klaineana) is a tropical hardwood also known as okoumÃ© or angouma and commonly described as ebony. ... Groups Conodonta Hyperoartia Petromyzontidae (lampreys) Pteraspidomorphi (early jawless fish) Thelodonti Anaspida Cephalaspidomorphi (early jawless fish) Galeaspida Pituriaspida Osteostraci Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) Placodermi Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Acanthodii Osteichthyes (bony fish) Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) Actinistia (coelacanths) Dipnoi (lungfish) A fish is a poikilothermic (cold-blooded)* water-dwelling...

Exports - commodities: crude oil 75%, timber, manganese, uranium (1998) Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Latin petrus – rock and oleum – oil), mineral oil, or crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths... Timber Timber is a term used to describe wood throughout its processing from the time it is planned for use in industrial products to the time it is used as a structural material or in other industrial product, such as wood pulp for paper production. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block ?, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic Atomic mass 238. ...

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, petroleum products, construction materials A machine is any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ... Food from plant sources Food is any substance normally eaten or drunk by living organisms. ... A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry: A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Currency: 1 Communauté financière africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes The countries using the CFA franc The CFA franc (in French: franc CFA, or just franc in everyday conversation if no ambiguity is possible) is a currency used in 12 formerly French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (former Portuguese colony) and in Equatorial Guinea (former Spanish... Centime is French for cent, and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone Switzerland and formerly France), where it is one hundredth of a franc. ...

Exchange rates: Communauté financière africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 647.25 (January 2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995)
note: since 1 January 1999, the CFAF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 CFA francs per euro January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Fiscal year: calendar year In the Gregorian calendar in common use, the calendar year begins on January 1, and ends on December 31. ...

Encyclopedia > Economy of Gabon

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