Gabon

Airports

73 total, 61 usable; 10 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 22 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

11 major transport aircraft

Highways

7,500 km total; 560 km paved, 960 km laterite, 5,980 km earth

Inland waterways

1,600 km perennially navigable

Merchant marine

2 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 18,563 GRT/25,330 DWT

Pipelines

crude oil, 270 km; refined products, 14 km

Ports

Owendo, Port-Gentil, Libreville

Railroads

649 km 1.437-meter standard-gauge single track (Transgabonese Railroad)

Telecommunications

adequate system of open-wire, radio relay, tropospheric scatter links and radiocommunication stations; 13,800 telephones; stations--6 AM, 6 FM, 8 TV; satellite earth stations--2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 12 domestic satellite

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force, Presidential Guard, paramilitary Gendarmerie, National Police

Defense expenditures

$102 million, 3.2% of GDP (1990 est.)

Manpower availability

males 15-49, 266,472; 133,648 fit for military service; 9,634 reach military age (20) annually

Agriculture

accounts for 10% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); cash crops--cocoa, coffee, palm oil; livestock not developed; importer of food; small fishing operations provide a catch of about 20,000 metric tons; okoume (a tropical softwood) is the most important timber product

Budget

revenues $1.1 billion; expenditures $1.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $277 million (1990 est.)

Currency

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

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $66 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $1.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $27 million

Electricity

310,000 kW capacity; 980 million kWh produced, 920 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1--253.32 (December 1990), 171.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

Exports

$1.16 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--crude oil 70%, manganese 11%, wood 12%, uranium 6%; partners--France 53%, US 22%, FRG, Japan

External debt

$3.4 billion (December 1990 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

$3.3 billion, per capita $3,090; real growth rate 13% (1990 est.)

Imports

$0.78 billion (c.i.f., 1989); commodities--foodstuffs, chemical products, petroleum products, construction materials, manufactures, machinery; partners--France 48%, US 2.6%, FRG, Japan, UK

Industrial production

growth rate - 10% (1988 est.)

Industries

petroleum, food and beverages, timber, cement plywood, textiles, mining--manganese, uranium, gold)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

3% (1989 est.)

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. The three-year slide of Gabon's economy, which began with falling oil prices in 1985, was reversed in 1989 because of a near doubling of oil prices over their 1988 lows. In 1990 the economy continued to grow, but debt servicing problems are hindering economic advancement. The agricultural and industrial sectors are relatively underdeveloped, except for oil.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Climate

tropical; always hot, humid

Coastline

885 km Contiguous zone: 24 nm; Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; Territorial sea: 12 nm

Comparative area

slightly smaller than Colorado

Disputes

maritime boundary dispute with Equatorial Guinea because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay

Environment

deforestation

Land boundaries

2,551 km total; Cameroon 298 km, Congo 1,903 km, Equatorial Guinea 350 km

Land use

arable land 1%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 18%; forest and woodland 78%; other 2%

Natural resources

crude oil, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore

Terrain

narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and south

Total area

267,670 km2; land area: 257,670 km2

Administrative divisions

9 provinces; Estuaire, Haut-Ogooue, Moyen-Ogooue, Ngounie, Nyanga, Ogooue-Ivindo, Ogooue-Lolo, Ogooue-Maritime, Woleu-Ntem

Capital

Libreville

Communists

no organized party; probably some Communist sympathizers

Constitution

21 February 1961, revised 15 April 1975

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador-designate Alexandre SAMBAT; Chancery at 2034 20th Street NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone (202) 797-1000; US--Ambassador Keith L. WAUCHOPE; Embassy at Boulevard de la Mer, Libreville (mailing address is B. P. 4000, Libreville); telephone 762003 or 762004, 743492

Executive branch

president, prime minister, Cabinet

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and blue

Independence

17 August 1960 (from France)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court (Cour Supreme) Chief of State--President El Hadj Omar BONGO (since 2 December 1967); Head of Government--Prime Minister Casimir OYE-MBA (since 3 May 1990)

Legal system

based on French civil law system and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court; compulsory ICJ jurisdiction not accepted

Legislative branch

unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale)

Long-form name

Gabonese Republic

Member of

ACCT, ACP, AfDB, BDEAC, CCC, CEEAC, ECA, FAO, FZ, G-24, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS (associate), NAM, OAU, OIC, OPEC, UDEAC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

National holiday

Renovation Day (Gabonese Democratic Party established), 12 March (1968)

Political parties and leaders

Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG, former sole party), El Hadj Omar BONGO, president; National Recovery Movement-Lumberjacks (Morena-Bucherons); Gabonese Party for Progress (PGP); National Recovery Movement (Morena-Original); Association for Socialism in Gabon (APSG); Gabonese Socialist Union (USG); Circle for Renewal and Progress (CRP); Union for Democracy and Development (UDD)

Suffrage

universal at age 21 President--last held on 9 November 1986 (next to be held November 1993); results--President Omar BONGO was reelected without opposition; National Assembly--last held on 28 October 1990 (next to be held by February 1992); results--percent of vote NA; seats--(120 total, 111 elected) PDG 62, National Recovery Movement-Lumberjacks (Morena-Bucherons) 19, PGP 18, National Recovery Movement (Morena-Original) 7, ASPG 6, USG 4, CRP 1, independent 3

Type

republic; multiparty presidential regime (opposition parties legalized 1990)

Birth rate

28 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate

14 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Ethnic divisions

about 40 Bantu tribes, including four major tribal groupings (Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke); about 100,000 expatriate Africans and Europeans, including 27,000 French

Infant mortality rate

104 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Labor force

120,000 salaried; agriculture 65.0%, industry and commerce 30.0%, services 2.5%, government 2.5%; 58% of population of working age (1983)

Language

French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi

Life expectancy at birth

51 years male, 56 years female (1991)

Literacy

61% (male 74%, female 48%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

Nationality

noun--Gabonese (sing., pl.); adjective--Gabonese

Net migration rate

0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Organized labor

there are 38,000 members of the national trade union, the Gabonese Trade Union Confederation (COSYGA)

Population

1,079,980 (July 1991), growth rate 1.4% (1991)

Religion

Christian 55-75%, Muslim less than 1%, remainder animist

Total fertility rate

4.0 children born/woman (1991)