Log Jam

Exclusive: Gabon minister sees raw material export bans as possible value-chain lever

By David Whitehouse

Reserved for subscribers

Posted on February 8, 2023 10:20

© An aerial view shows a logging road going through the rainforest in Nyanga province, Gabon, October 14, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS — An aerial view shows a logging road going through the rainforest in Nyanga province, Gabon, October 14, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS

Bans on the export of raw materials are a possible tool for Gabon as it seeks progress towards higher value-added trade, minister for investment promotion and public-private partnerships Hugues Mbadinga Madiya tells The Africa Report.

“The general policy of the Gabon government is not to export raw materials” but to seek to transform them locally, Mbadinga Madiya says on the sidelines of the Africa Investments Forum & Awards in Paris on 7 February. “The model of supplying raw materials does not create jobs.”

There's more to this story

Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.

Subscribe Now

cancel anytime

Already a a subscriber Sign In

More Business

© Tanzania is constructing the Central Corridor Standard Gauge Railway. (photo: twitter)

missing links

Tanzania’s Standard Gauge Railway: Most advanced, but victim of minor private sector investment Tanzania’s standard gauge railway project – that seeks to open up quicker transport corridors towards the vast hinterland of Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, and...

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, in Paris on 10 November 2021. © Damien Grenon for JA

leverage accelerator

AfDB tackles climate change at annual meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh More than 4,000 people have travelled to Egypt to attend the 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and ...

© Eskom technicians perform maintenance in Villiers, South Africa, on May 10, 2023. (Shiraaz MOHAMED / AFP)

Electric shock

South Africa prepares for the worst in load shedding It only took one statement to bring South Africa’s Eskom shares into the red. On Thursday, 18 May, Calib Cassim, acting CEO of the publicly-run nation...

© The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters building in Washington, U.S., April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

money matters

African Debt: Three proposals to reform the SDR system Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), shares insights on new proposa...