Access to THE WORLD FACTBOOK 1993 provided courtesy of The Libraries of the University of Missouri-St. Louis Match 87 DB Rec# - 55,834 Dataset-WOFACT Source :CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Source key :CI Program :WORLD FACTBOOK Program key :CI WOFACT Update sched. :Annually ID number :CI WOFACT 086 Title :GABON Data type :TEXT End year :1994 Date of record:02/16/1994 Keywords 3 : | GABON Text : GABON GEOGRAPHY Location: Western Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean at the Equator between the Congo and Equatorial Guinea Map references: Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World Area: total area: 267,670 km2 land area: 257,670 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than Colorado Land boundaries: total 2,551 km, Cameroon 298 km, Congo 1,903 km, Equatorial Guinea 350 km Coastline: 885 km contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm International disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Equatorial Guinea because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay Climate: tropical; always hot, humid Terrain: narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and south Natural resources: petroleum, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore Land use: permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 18% forest and woodland: 78% other: 2% Irrigated land: NA km2 Environment: deforestation PEOPLE Population: 1,122,550 (July 1993 est.) Population growth rate: 1.45% (1993 est.) Birth rate: 28.63 births/1,000 population (1993 est.) Death rate: 14.08 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.) Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.) Infant mortality rate: 97.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 54.19 years male: 51.46 years female: 57.01 years (1993 est.) Total fertility rate: 4.02 children born/woman (1993 est.) Nationality: noun: Gabonese (singular and plural) adjective: Gabonese Ethnic divisions: Bantu tribes including four major tribal groupings (Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke), Africans and Europeans 100,000, including 27,000 French Religions: Christian 55-75%, Muslim less than 1%, animist Languages: French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990) total population: 61% male: 74% female: 48% by occupation: agriculture 65.0%, industry and commerce 30.0%, services 2.5%, government 2.5% note: 58% of population of working age (1983) GOVERNMENT Names: conventional long form: Gabonese Republic conventional short form: Gabon local long form: Republique Gabonaise local short form: Gabon Digraph: GB Type: republic; multiparty presidential regime (opposition parties legalized 1990) Capital: Libreville Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Estuaire, Haut-Ogooue, Moyen-Ogooue, Ngounie, Nyanga, Ogooue-Ivindo, Ogooue-Lolo, Ogooue-Maritime, Woleu-Ntem Independence: 17 August 1960 (from France) Constitution: 21 February 1961, revised 15 April 1975 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 National holiday: Renovation Day, 12 March (1968) (Gabonese Democratic Party established) 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: 21 years of age; universal Elections: National Assembly: last held on 28 October 1990 (next to be held by NA); 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, APSG 6, USG 4, CRP 1, independents 3 President: last held on 9 November 1986 (next to be held December 1993); results - President Omar BONGO was reelected without opposition Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale) Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme) Leaders: Chief of State: President El Hadj Omar BONGO (since 2 December 1967) Head of Government: Prime Minister Casimir OYE-MBA (since 3 May 1990) 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 Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: (vacant) chancery: 2034 20th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: (202) 797-1000 US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador John C. WILSON IV embassy: Boulevard de la Mer, Libreville mailing address: B. P. 4000, Libreville telephone: (241) 762003/4, or 743492 FAX: 241 745-507 Flag: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and blue ECONOMY Overview: The economy, dependent on timber and manganese until the early 1970s, is now dominated by the oil sector. In 1981-85, oil accounted for about 45% of GDP, 80% 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 national 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 subsequent slide of Gabon's economy, which began with falling oil prices in 1985, was reversed in 1989-90, but debt servicing obligations continue to limit prospects for further domestic development. Real growth in 1991-92 was weak because of a combination of an overstaffed bureaucracy, a large budget deficit, and the continued underdevelopment of the whole economy outside the petroleum sector. National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $4.6 billion (1991) National product real growth rate: 13% (1990 est.) National product per capita: $4,200 (1991 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0.7% (1991 est.) Budget: revenues $1.4 billion; expenditures $1.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $247 million (1990 est.) Exports: $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 1991) commodities: crude oil 80%, manganese 7%, wood 7%, uranium 2% partners: France 48%, US 15%, Germany 2%, Japan 2% Imports: $702 million (c.i.f., 1991 est.) commodities: foodstuffs, chemical products, petroleum products, construction materials, manufactures, machinery partners: France 64%, African countries 7%, US 5%, Japan 3% External debt: $4.4 billion (1991) Industrial production: growth rate - 10% (1988 est.); accounts for 45% of GDP, including petroleum Electricity: 315,000 kW capacity; 995 million kWh produced, 920 kWh per capita (1991) Industries: petroleum, food and beverages, lumbering and plywood, textiles, mining - manganese, uranium, gold, cement 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 Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $68 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-90), $2,342 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $27 million Currency: 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 274.06 (January 1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988) Fiscal year: calendar year COMMUNICATIONS Railroads: 649 km 1.437-meter standard-gauge single track (Transgabonese Railroad) Highways: 7,500 km total; 560 km paved, 960 km laterite, 5,980 km earth Inland waterways: 1,600 km perennially navigable Pipelines: crude oil 270 km; petroleum products 14 km Ports: Owendo, Port-Gentil, Libreville Merchant marine: 2 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 18,563 Airports: total: 68 usable: 56 with permanent-surface runways: 10 with runways over 3,659 m: 0 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 2 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 22 Telecommunications: adequate system of cable, radio relay, tropospheric scatter links and radiocommunication stations; 15,000 telephones; broadcast stations - 6 AM, 6 FM, 3 (5 repeaters) TV; satellite earth stations - 3 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 12 domestic satellite Defense forces Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Presidential Guard, National Gendarmerie, National Police Manpower availability: males age 15-49 269,066; fit for military service 135,836; reach military age (20) annually 9,680 (1993 est.) Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $102 million, 3.2% of GDP (1990 est.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section of THE WORLD FACTBOOK 1993 produced by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was derived from the US Dept. of Commerce Economics and Statistics Division's NATIONAL TRADE DATA BANK CD-ROM, July, 1994, SuDoc No. C 1.88:994/7/v.1-2 / R. Muns, UM-St. Louis Libraries Local Filename: WF940085.TXT