Economic Governance in Gabon: Assessment of the <i> Plan Stratégique Gabon Emergent </i> on the Business Environment

Abstract

The present study aims to identify the existing reforms introduced by the recent economic diversification policy of the government of Gabon called Plan Stratégique Gabon Emergent. It assesses the current stage of reforms aiming to enable the business environment. Empirical part of our research was carried out with evidence relating to the impact of regulatory reform on the business environment in Gabon. We used the World Bank Doing Business and Ibrahim Index of African Governance databases to provide indicators of the quality of regulatory governance from 2009 to 2018. Our key findings showed that the investment climate is still below the expectations. The current macroeconomic situation of the country due to the barrel price has limited the capacity of the government to finance its major reforms. Furthermore, the small size of the market weakens the potentiality of the country to attract foreign direct investments in non-extractive sectors. In brief, Gabon's diversification model shows some weaknesses due to non-existent coherent industrial policy empowering small medium-size enterprises through an effective financial framework favorable for entrepreneurship.

Forests to the Foreigners: Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Gabon

“…Both initiatives were enacted to promote the transformation of Gabon's secondary sector to increase the value of primary products (such as wood) before export. The PSGE has actively changed the landscape of investments in Gabon, receiving both praise and criticism, but as Aki [25] finds, while there are shifts occurring, the plan further encourages investment in the primary sectors. Moreover, it is the extractive sectors that have continued to expand (except oil); for example, in 2017, manganese processing rose 78.8% and wood processing 13.7%, while the production of crude oil dropped 7.9% [26].…”