Located in the center of Africa, Gabon, thanks to the diversification of its economy, becomes one of the richest countries on the continent in terms of GDP per capita. It has overtaken Botswana, the world’s second diamond producer. A well-deserved status due to a resilient economy, able to “better resist international crises and unfavourable fluctuations in the price of hydrocarbons, minerals or precious stones on the continent”, thus leading to a remarkable development in the country.
These encouraging results come from the strategies developed since 2009 by the President of the Gabonese Republic, His Excellency Ali BONGO ONDIMBA. These are based on the transition to a broader structure of national production defined in the framework of the implementation of the Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan (PSGE), revised into the Transformation Acceleration Plan (PAT) in 202. It includes various projects dedicated to get Gabon out of its great dependence on extractive industries, to transform locally part of the production of wood and agricultural products, but also to invest in the digital and tourism sectors. In addition, the government has developed policies to further attract investors, including the creation of the Nkok special economic zone and the signature of a public-private partnership with the Singaporean group Olam.
Gabon is ensuring its development in compliance with internationally recommended standards of financial transparency. The eighth-biggest African oil producer, known as a country with a rich subsoil of non-renewable raw materials and the second African producer of manganese, Gabon, with a population of approximately 2.3 million, has not recorded any negative growth from 2015 to 2019.