Archive

Archive for the ‘Equatorial Guinea’ Category

Country Analysis Brief: Equatorial Guinea

March 2, 2012 Comments off

Country Analysis Brief: Equatorial Guinea
Source: Energy Information Administration

Equatorial Guinea became a significant oil and natural gas exporter with the discovery and development of large offshore oil reserves in the 1990s. As production increased, the country grew by an average real annual growth rate of 26.2 percent from 2001 to 2005, according to the World Bank. Hydrocarbon production is the basis of the country’s economy and consists of crude oil, condensate, natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), and dry natural gas. According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest data, the hydrocarbon sector represented over 90 percent of government revenue and about 98 percent of export earnings.

Categories: energy, Energy Information Administration, Equatorial Guinea

External Sustainability of Oil-Producing Sub-Saharan African Countries

August 28, 2011 Comments off

External Sustainability of Oil-Producing Sub-Saharan African Countries
Source: International Monetary Fund

In the extensive empirical work carried out across the IMF on oil-producing sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, the notion of “sustainability” is often directed toward fiscal policies, and, in particular, views on the “optimal” non-oil primary fiscal deficit. The bulk of this work does not, however, address external sustainability, which is a concern especially for those SSA oil producers operating under a fixed exchange rate regime. A couple of recent papers have extended the existing methodologies to assess external sustainability for some oil-producing countries but they do not focus on those in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we bolster this empirical work by providing a range of estimates for the long-run external current external account balance for each of the SSA oil-producing countries, based on three widely used methodologies in the IMF. Our research strategy is to apply these models to the eight countries in the subregion – Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, and the Republic of Congo – using similar simplifying assumptions so that we are using the same lens to view how they do and do not differ.

+ Full Paper (PDF)

Categories: Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, energy, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, International Monetary Fund, Nigeria

Country Specific Information: Equatorial Guinea

August 14, 2011 Comments off

Country Specific Information: Equatorial Guinea
Source: U.S. Department of State

August 10, 2011

COUNTRY DESCRIPTION: Equatorial Guinea is an oil-rich, developing country on the western coast of central Africa. Its capital and main port, Malabo, is located on the island of Bioko, off the coast of Cameroon. A secondary port, Luba, is also on Bioko. The mainland territory of Equatorial Guinea is bordered by Cameroon and Gabon. The principal city on the mainland is Bata. Official languages are Spanish, which is widely spoken, and French, which is not widely understood, but sometimes used in business dealings.

Equatorial Guinea is nominally a multiparty constitutional republic. All branches of government are dominated by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled since 1979. In November 2009, he was declared the winner of the presidential election with over 95 percent of the vote.

Facilities for tourism are limited but growing. Cash machines are rare and often broken. The cash machine located at Malabo’s airport and one at the SGBGE Bank in downtown Malabo are open to the public; other cash machines that do exist require membership in the local bank. There are no ATMs outside the capital city of Malabo. Equatorial Guinea is a beautiful country with many interesting sites and beautiful beaches, but there is little tourism information to assist in planning a vacation. There is no public transportation and renting a vehicle is difficult. Rental vehicle choices are limited and can be expensive. Taxis are readily available in the larger cities and are generally inexpensive. Unless you pay a significantly higher price, drivers will pick up additional people until the vehicle is full. Passengers are delivered to their destinations at the convenience of the driver, not the passenger. Read the Department of State Background notes on Equatorial Guinea for additional information.

Categories: Equatorial Guinea, international relations, transportation and travel, U.S. Department of State
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 633 other followers