Equatorial Guinea Economy

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 30 June 2010

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Equatorial Guinea possessed a population of 551,201 as per July 2007 data. Its GDP was estimated at $10.4 billion in 2007. Real GDP growth rate for 2007 was 9.1%. Unemployment rate for 2007 was 8%. Projected average inflation rate for 2008 is 5.5%.

Equatorial Guinea economy overview

Equatorial Guinea is rich in natural resources like petroleum and natural gas, uranium, timber, manganese and gold. Agriculture in 2006 contributed around 2.8% of Equatorial Guinea's GDP. Industry took the lion's share with 92.6% of GDP. Services sector accounted for 4.5% of national GDP. Prime agricultural products of this region are coffee, timber, rice, livestock, cassava (tapioca), manioc, bananas, oil nuts and palm. Petroleum, lumber, natural gas and fishing are major industries in Equatorial Guinea. Communaute Financiere Africaine (CFA) franc is official currency of this nation. Major trading partners of Equatorial Guinea are listed below.

  • United States
  • Norway
  • Spain
  • Cameroon
  • China
  • United Kingdom
  • Canada
  • France

 

Equatorial Guinea economy 2007-2008

In 2007, Equatorial Guinea's exports totaled $10.03 billion. The comparable figure for imports was $3.219 billion in same reference period. Equatorial Guinea’s exports of oil and gas rose substantially in 2007. With this development there was also a rise in per capita income of the nation. Growth of energy sector of this nation was propelled by installation of a high tech LNG production facility. Current construction boom has also helped to increase this region’s GDP. Apart from this, the current government is trying to achieve a greater scale of economic diversification. Equatorial Guinea follows an open investment framework. Equatorial Guinea economy is highly dependent on foreign investment. Equatorial Guinea possesses unexploited deposits of gold, titanium, uranium, manganese and iron ore. This nation is well connected by roads. Malabo is its prime port.

However, this is generally an impoverished nation. Fruits of economic growth have not yet percolated to general population, mostly due to lack of proper policy implementation. Corruption is a major problem area with this economy. Another problem stems from limited size of its domestic market. Taxes form a major source of government revenue here. Around 81% of Government revenues are collected from oil related activities. A project aimed at modernization of Equatorial Guinea’s power grid is slated for completion in 2010.

 


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