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The 2026 Public Finance Review outlines strategic fiscal policies designed to enhance the sustainability of Gabon’s public finances, stimulate job creation, and elevate living standards for its citizens.
Key findings uncovered
- Revenue challenges: Between 2014 and 2024, non-oil tax revenues averaged just 10.5% of GDP—well below peer averages—due to extensive tax exemptions and compliance gaps.
- Public spending trends: Total public expenditure surged to 25% of GDP in 2023–2024. Yet, social sector allocations languished at 4% of GDP—less than half the Sub-Saharan Africa average—while bloated wage bills, fuel subsidies, and debt servicing crowded out productive and essential social spending.
- Resource revenue underperformance: Despite ranking as Sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth-largest oil producer, the second-largest manganese exporter globally, and a major timber supplier, Gabon captures far lower per-barrel oil receipts than regional peers, and mining and forestry receipts remain below fiscal potential.
- Public finance governance gaps: In 2024, 90% of public contracts were awarded through direct negotiations, year-end 2025 arrears on public debt reached 3.5% of GDP, and combined liabilities of key state-owned enterprises exceeded 8% of GDP, revealing systemic weaknesses in budget management, cash flow control, debt oversight, procurement practices, and the performance of public entities.
- Social sector deficits: Gabon’s health, education, and social protection systems suffer from chronic underfunding. With just 0.5 doctors per 1,000 people, fewer than half of preschool teachers holding formal qualifications, and social protection spending at a mere 0.03% of GDP in 2024, the gaps in service delivery and equity remain stark.
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