A: Gabon lies on the geographical coordinates of -1° 0' 0" S, 11° 45' 0" E.

Latitude and Longitude of Gabon in other units:

More detail about Gabon

Gabon Receiving Mixed Reviews for Economy Lacking Diversity

Gabon?s economy through some of the numbers would not be so bad but there are some questions as to where the money is going. The economy in the region is created by the oil and in fact, makes enough revenue to cover almost half of the budget of the government. The oil makes up slightly less of the GDP and over three quarters of the exports. Oil did have a decline in 1997 but there is still room for making more money in after-oil activity.

Despite the fact that there were revenues coming in from the oil, Gabon got into trouble with not spending these funds efficiently. There were accusations of overspending on items that were not on the budget.

There are other natural resources that Gabon has to offer. Before the oil discover, logging was on the top of the list. Logging is still a major contributor to the economy as is manganese mining. There have been discoveries of iron deposits in some recent explorations. These reserves have never been touched and may be used to introduce another form of employment.

Gabon is highly involved in the primary processing procedures and is often criticized because of the lack of diversity in their economy. There are investments being put into the agricultural and tourism sectors of this area. The small service sectors that exist in Gabon are monopolized by a few large local investors.

This area is involved with trading with other countries such as France, China and the European Union. Their exports include wood, manganese, and petroleum. They rely heavily on imports from the same three countries plus Belgium. Their imports include automobiles, food, machinery, manufactured goods, and construction equipment.

There is a lack of diversity seen within these regions but there is also decent revenue being brought in from their industries. One might wonder whether it is diversity or correctly managed spending that is truly needed.