The Republic of Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau, with Bissau as the capital is located on the west coast of Africa, bordering Senegal in the north, Guinea in the east and south and the North Atlantic Ocean in the west. It was once called Portuguese Guinea with Portuguese still used as the official language although Creole is commonly used. According to the 2014 Human Development Report, Guinea- Bissau ranks 177 among the 187 countries worldwide in the Human Development Index, being one of the most undeveloped countries in the world. The industrial foundation is weak and food insecurity is high. The economy is mainly based on agriculture and fisheries with cashew nut production ranking the eighth in the world.

Industries

The industrial foundation is weak with main activities in agricultural products and food processing. In 2014, industrial production amounted to 13.6% of the GDP, industrial workers made up 1% of the labour population.

Agriculture

Guinea-Bissau is a traditional agricultural country, its agricultural production amounted to 57% of the GDP and 68% of the country’s population are engaged in agriculture. There are around 900,000 hectares of arable land with nearly 450,000 hectares being cultivated. Main crops are rice, cashew nuts, palm, cassava, peanuts, cotton, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and Chinese sorghum. Cashew nuts are the major export product and the mainstay of the economy, known as the cashew economy, with an average annual production of over 200,000 tonnes, ranking the eighth worldwide and the third in Africa. However, nearly all exported cashew nut are unprocessed, therefore, there is a need for the country to formulate relevant investment policies, such as incentive measures for large industrialised cashew nut processing operations.

Fisheries

Being the most important fishery ground in the Atlantic Ocean, the coastline extends 300 kilometres and the coastal shelf extends 160 km, with an Exclusive Economic Zone of around 70,000 square metres. Marine products include shrimp, lobster, crab and molluscs, with an annual fishing volume of 250,000 to 350,000 tonnes. Issuance of fishery permits to foreign fishing vessels is the major source of foreign exchange revenue and the current annual actual fishing volume is around 30,000 tonnes. There are abundant marine resources and the country is also known as tropical water village.

Forestry

Forest coverage is around 56% with an area of 2.35 million hectares, timber reserves amounted to 48.3 million square metres with an annual output of 100,000 tonnes of timber. There are 17 species of timber with a commercial timbering value and suitable for export, including red wood, sandalwood, shiraki and palm tree, being the desirable timber used in construction, ship building, furniture making and wooden sculptures. Timber products are the traditional export products after fishery products, timber and furniture industries are the major area for investment.

Animal Husbandry

There is 3 million hectares of natural pastureland, suitable for animal husbandry, with 20% of agricultural population engaged in animal husbandry.

Resources

Mineral resources are not abundant in supply and are not effectively developed. Major mineral resources are bauxite (reserves of around 200 million tonnes), phosphates (reserves of around 80 million tonnes) and some base metal. The coastal area being explored for oil (reserves of around 1.1 billion barrels).

External Trade

Major export products are cashew nuts, peanuts, frozen shrimp and fish, palm kernels, raw and sawn lumber. Cashew nut export amounted to over 80% of total export volume. Major export trade partners are China, India, Nigeria and Togo. Main imported commodities are food, fuels, lubricant oils, machinery and transport, construction materials. Main import trade partners are China, India, Senegal, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Bissau-Capital of Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau’s cashew nuts production ranks sixth in the world

Guinea-Bissau is rich in aquatic product resources