Overview: The economy, dependent on timber and manganese until the early 1970s, is now dominated by the oil sector. During the period 1981-85 oil accounted for about 46% of GDP, 83% of export earnings, and 65% of government revenues on average. The high oil prices of the early 1980s contributed to a substantial increase in per capita income, stimulated domestic demand, reinforced migration from rural to urban areas, and raised the level of real wages to among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Beginning in late 1985, however, world oil prices began to fall and in 1986 GDP declined for the first time in a decade. The agricultural and industrial sectors are relatively underdeveloped, accounting for only 8% and 10%, respectively, of GDP in 1986.

GNP: $3.4 billion, per capita $3,300; real growth rate - 2.0% (1986)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): - 1% (1987)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $927 million; expenditures $1.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $33 million (1988)

Exports: $1.95 billion (f.o.b., 1986 est.); @m5commodities--crude oil 67%, manganese 11%, wood 11%, uranium 6%; @m5partners--France 53%, US 22%, FRG, Japan

Imports: $0.95 billion (c.i.f., 1986); @m5commodities--foodstuffs, chemical products, petroleum products, construction materials, manufactures, machinery; @m5partners--France 48%, US 2.6%, FRG, Japan, UK

External debt: $2.5 billion (December 1988)

Industrial production: growth rate 1.7% (1986)

Electricity: 310,000 kW capacity; 976 million kWh produced, 930 kWh per capita (1988)

Industries: sawmills, petroleum, food and beverages; mining of increasing importance (especially manganese and uranium)

Agriculture: commercial--cocoa, coffee, wood, palm oil, rice; main food crops--pineapples, bananas, manioc, peanuts, root crops; imports food

Aid: NA

Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1--312.52 (January 1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Gabon on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Gabon Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Gabon Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.