According to the report, the recovery accelerated in 2022, with growth projected at 2.7 percent against 1.5 percent in 2021, driven by oil, mining and forestry. The fiscal deficit is estimated at 1.9 percent of GDP in 2021, and public debt fell to 65.8 percent of GDP in 2021 from 78.3 percent in 2020. The national poverty rate is estimated at 34.1 percent in 2021, against 32.4 percent in 2019.
Special topic: trade in agricultural commodities
Gabon imports a large share of its food: food imports accounted for close to a quarter of total goods imports between 2010 and 2020. The report describes a marketing chain of more than 16 steps and transport costs inflated by informal payments, known locally as tracasseries.
Between the Cameroon border and Libreville a 20-ton load runs into 44 checkpoints on average, one every 10.8 kilometres; together they cost the driver more than fifteen hours and CFAF 1,980,000. Petty harassment explains three of every four stops, the survey finds. It adds US$0.30 per ton and per kilometre to the cost of moving farm produce and, for the products surveyed, about 14 percent to what shoppers finally pay on the Cameroon to Gabon corridor. Among the traders surveyed in Libreville who answered, 71 percent reported paying discretionary fees at checkpoints. The report recommends in particular completing the deployment of the Sydonia World customs software on the northern border, introducing a single window for agricultural trade, reducing the number of checkpoints and better disseminating information on trade procedures and official fees.
