The 2001 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
continues to face fluctuating prices for its oil, timber, manganese, and uranium exports. Despite the abundance of natural wealth, the economy is hobbled by poor fiscal management. 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, a three-year Enhanced Financing Facility (EFF) at near commercial rates beginning in late 1995, and stand-by credit of $119 million in October 2000. 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, overborrowing from the central bank, and slipping on its schedule for privatization and administrative reform. The rebound of oil prices in 1999–2000 helped growth, but drops in production hampered Gabon from fully realizing potential gains. An expected decline in oil output may lead to contraction in GDP in 2001–02.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $7.7 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 1.2% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,300 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 10%
industry: 60%
services: 30% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.5% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 600,000
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 60%, services and government 25%, industry and commerce 15%
Unemployment rate: 21% (1997 est.)
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; chemicals; ship repair
Industrial production growth rate: 2.3% (1995)
Electricity - production: 1.02 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 29.9%
hydro: 70.1%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 948.6 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber; cattle; okoume (a tropical softwood); fish
Exports: $3.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities: crude oil 75%, timber, manganese, uranium (1998)
Exports - partners: US 47%, France 19%, China 8%, Japan 1.3% (1999)
Imports: $1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, petroleum products, construction materials
Imports - partners: France 64%, US 4%, UK 2%, Netherlands 2%, (1999)
Debt - external: $3.9 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $331 million (1995)
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible authority is the Bank of the Central African States
Currency code: XAF
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 699.21 (January 2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996); note - from 1 January 1999, the XAF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XAF per euro
Fiscal year: calendar year
Gabon Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: 37,000 (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 9,500 (1997)
Telephone system: general assessment: NA
domestic: adequate system of cable, microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, radiotelephone communication stations, and a domestic satellite system with 12 earth stations
international: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 7, shortwave 6 (1998)
Radios: 208,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 4 (plus five low-power repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 63,000 (1997)
Internet country code: .ga
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)
Internet users: 5,000 (2000)
Gabon Transportation
Railways: total: 649 km (Gabon State Railways or OCTRA)
standard gauge: 649 km 1.435-m gauge; single track (1994)
Highways: total: 7,670 km
paved: 629 km (including 30 km of expressways)
unpaved: 7,041 km (1996)
Waterways: 1,600 km (perennially navigable)
Pipelines: crude oil 270 km; petroleum products 14 km
Ports and harbors: Cap Lopez, Kango, Lambarene, Libreville, Mayumba,
Owendo, Port-Gentil
Airports: 59 (2000 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 10
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2000 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 49
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 17
under 914 m: 24 (2000 est.)
Gabon Military
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Republican Guard (charged with protecting the president and other senior officials), National Gendarmerie, National Police
Military manpower - military age: 20 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15–49: 281,218 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15–49: 145,062 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 11,304 (2001 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $91 million (FY96)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.6% (FY96)
Gabon Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: maritime boundary dispute with Equatorial
Guinea because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay
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@Gambia, The
Gambia, The Introduction
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