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
Religion: Christian 55-75%, Muslim less than 1%, remainder animist
Language: French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira,
Bandjabi
Literacy: 61% (male 74%, female 48%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
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)
Organized labor: there are 38,000 members of the national trade
union, the Gabonese Trade Union Confederation (COSYGA)
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 (Gabonese Democratic Party
established), 12 March (1968)
Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet
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)
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
Elections:
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
Communists: no organized party; probably some Communist
sympathizers
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
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. 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.
GDP: $3.3 billion, per capita $3,090; real growth rate 13% (1990
est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3% (1989 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget: revenues $1.1 billion; expenditures $1.5 billion,
including capital expenditures of $277 million (1990 est.)
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 (FY70-89), $66
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $1.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $27 million
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc
(plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
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
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
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Presidential Guard, paramilitary
Gendarmerie, National Police
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 266,472; 133,648 fit for
military service; 9,634 reach military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures: $102 million, 3.2% of GDP (1990 est.)
