Inclusive Green Growth and Structural Transformation Policies in Gabon

Abstract

In 2009, Gabon initiated an approach whose aim was to foster the transition towards a green economy by means of actions implemented in the framework of the Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan (EGSP). This plan also presented sectoral and multispectral actions assisting the movement towards the structural transformation of the country’s economy. The government is anxious to diversify the sources of growth and sustainable development in terms of the provisions of EGSP by boosting nonoil sectors such as forestry and agriculture. These sectors actually have great potential to create wealth and jobs and a clear ability to implement inclusive green economy and structural transformation policies in Gabon. The purpose of the present study is to examine the links between the policies to promote an inclusive green economy and structural transformation in Gabon, including the contribution that these policies make to structural transformation. It is designed to deepen understanding and encourage the adoption of policies to promote the inclusive green economy that can facilitate the achievement of structural transformation goals in Gabon. The study presents a macroeconomic framework characterized by the predominance of the extraction industries; its oil and mining sectors, however, traditionally the drivers of the country’s economic growth, continue to face the challenge of fluctuating world prices. Nonetheless, the economy recorded growth of 6.2 per cent in 2013 and an estimated 6 per cent in 2014 as a result of robust activity in the infrastructures sector, despite the structural downturn noted in oil production.