For the second consecutive year, Gabon is the richest country in Africa (excluding very small countries) according to the report on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of African countries, published on 11 October by the Centre d’étude et de réflexion sur le monde francophone (Cermf).
The country owes this position to its GDP per capita, which stands at 8,017 dollars (5.4 million CFA francs) at the beginning of 2022. This GDP is higher than that of Botswana, which is just behind Gabon with a GDP of US$7,348 (FCFA 4.9 million) per capita at the same time. Gabon’s GDP and even that of Botswana are up compared to the same period in 2021 when they were respectively 3.9 million FCFA and 3.7 million FCFA.
According to the Cermf, these good performances of Gabon in 2022 « are mainly the result of a proactive policy of diversification carried out over the last decade », with the aim of getting the country out of its heavy dependence on extractive industries, and transforming part of the production locally. It is within this framework that the Nkok Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and other industrial zones were created, with the aim of locally processing Gabonese wood before export. This policy has doubled the weight of this sector in the national economy, which accounted for 5% of GDP and 15% of merchandise exports in 2021, the report says.
In the same vein, the Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan (PSGE) set up in 2009, as well as the plan to accelerate the transformation (PAT) of the Gabonese economy launched in 2021, aimed to industrialise the country by relying heavily on the development of the timber and agricultural sectors, as well as investing in services by developing the digital sector in particular, and more recently tourism.
This policy of diversifying its economy has enabled Gabon to considerably increase the weight of activities not directly linked to the extractive industries in the national economy. This has enabled « the country to have a more solid economy capable of withstanding international crises and unfavourable fluctuations in the price and/or production of raw materials better than that of many other major producers of hydrocarbons, minerals or precious stones on the continent », the report states. The economic development policy pursued by Gabon over the past decade has also been accompanied by major administrative, legal and fiscal reforms aimed at facilitating business creation and improving the business climate.
The Cermf report on GDP per capita of African countries classifies the continent’s countries as very small « that cannot be taken into account for relevant comparisons of wealth and economic and social development, due to a very small population (less than 1.5 million inhabitants) and a particularly small surface area, with a territory that is sometimes barely visible on a geographical map », the report states.
These countries include Mauritius, the Seychelles and Equatorial Guinea, which have higher per capita wealth but a population of between 0.1 and 1.5 million and a very small territory. For example, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritius are 9.5 times and 131 times smaller than Gabon respectively… With a surface area of 267,667 km², Gabon has a population of 2.3 million. Gabon is Africa’s 8th largest oil producer (and 36th largest in the world) as well as Africa’s second largest producer and the world’s 3rd largest producer of manganese (and poised to become the second largest, behind South Africa), while Botswana, with a population of 2.4 million, is the world’s second largest producer of diamonds, after Russia.
