Gabon

Economic growth is expected to rebound to 2.2% this year thanks to increasing oil prices, but also because of an expanding non-oil sector. The government has put plans in place to expand the non-oil economy, especially the agribusiness sector through the development of SEZs. On the fiscal side, however, both oil and non-oil revenues declined and expenditure increased due to new asset acquisitions and weaker fiscal controls. The government hopes to diminish expenditure by reducing the wage bill, although there have been some reports of civil servant protests due to salary cuts and salary arrears. As a legislative election in October approaches, we expect that the protest actions will feed into the political space. We expect some strike action and marches in the coming weeks, as unpaid workers take to the streets and the political opposition tries to gain political capital from the action. Strike action in the public and private sectors is expected to remain the most relevant driver of political risk in Gabon. (Source: Gabon Quarterly Update, published September 2018)

Macroeconomic Data

(2017)