Gabon will propose a 14 percent increase in its budget for 2013, with more than half of revenues coming from the tiny central African nation's oil and gas sector, according to a government statement seen by Reuters on Friday.
"The proposed law fixes resources at 3.141 trillion CFA francs," read the statement released following a cabinet meeting in the capital Libreville.
Gabon's 2012 budget reached 2.759 trillion francs following an increase of 308 billion francs in September due to an anticipated 1.8 percent rise in year-end crude oil production.
Oil income remained largely unchanged in the new budget, accounting for nearly 55 percent of 2.63 billion CFA francs in state revenues. The government plans to borrow an additional 509 billion CFA francs.
Gabon pumped an average of 245,000 bpd of crude oil in 2011, according to OPEC statistics. The government said in September that it expects to export 12.323 million tonnes of crude oil this year.
Oil accounts for around 80 percent of exports and 45 percent of GDP. With an estimated population of just 1.5 million, Gabon has one of Africa's highest per capital GDP levels.
The International Monetary Fund foresees a drop, however, in economic growth to 2.3 percent in 2013 from a projected 5.6 percent this year.
Gabon's parliament is due to vote on the proposed budget in the coming weeks.
Source: Reuters
