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Gabon

Gabon Gabon has a PCI (per capita income) that is two to four times greater than that of most sub-Saharan African nations. The average income in Gabon is about $6,400 compared to the $1,200 of some other countries. The higher PCI has helped in the decline of extreme poverty but because of a high income inequality many families still remain poor. High income inequality makes it hard for families to move up in society, they remain where they are at. In 1992 there fiscal deficit widened to 2.4% of there GDP and they did not settle the arrears on the bilateral debt which lead to the cancellation of all the official and private creditors. Fluctuating prices in the oil, timber, and uranium, plus poor fiscal management has also hurt the economy. Gabon’s GPD (gross domestic product) is estimated to be around 7.7 billion dollars. The GPD is divided into three sections the first being agriculture making up 8%. Gabon’s agriculture consists of cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, cattle, and fish. The second section, industry, contributes 67% of the nations GPD. Gabon’s industry includes textile, lumbering and plywood, petroleum, cement, manganese, uranium, gold mining, and chemicals. Oil was located of the coast of Gabon in the 1970’s. Petroleum alone now makes up 50% of the GDP. The last section of the GDP is services, making up 25%. Ship repair supplies the most to this category of the GDP. Gabon exports about $2.1 billion a year and imports an average of $890 million. The US, China, France, and Japan are there leading partners for exports. The US receives 67% of Gabon’s exports a year. Machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, petroleum products, and construction materials are included in Gabon’s imports. France imports about 38% followed by the US, Cameroon, and the Netherlands. The CFAF (Communaute Financiere Africaine franc) is Gabon’s currency. The CFAF started of as the French currency the Franc. The exchange rate for every US dollar is 577.61 CFAF’s. The inflation rate for the CFAF is about 2% as of January 1999. Gabon’s labor force works in three sectors, agriculture, industry and commerce, and services. Even though agriculture supplies only 8% of the GDP it makes up 65% of the labor force. Workers raise foods such as; cassava, plantains, sugarcane, corn (maize), peanuts (groundnuts), bananas, palm oil, and cacao. Coffee and cacao are raised for export. Gabon has an unemployment rate at 21%. Gabon has received 331 million dollars in economic aid. Much of the money has been spent on trying to improve the oil industry and supply electricity to more of the country. A great increase in the annual production of electricity resulted from the construction of the country's first hydroelectric plant at Kinguele near the capital. 1. www.theodora.com/wfb/gabon-economy.html 2. www.emulateme.com/content/gabon.html Bibliography:

Word Count: 467