The newly elected government of Gabon has signed two agreements with the Africa Export-Import Bank accepting loans worth more than $3.2bn for industrial development.

The funding is equal to 16% of the West African country’s GDP.

The new president, Brice Oligui Nguema, who led the 2023 coup overturning the 56-year-long Bongo dynasty, aims to diversify Gabon’s economy away from hydrocarbons.

The agreements were signed during the bank’s annual meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, which took place at the end of last month, according to the EU’s Ecofin agency.

The first agreement, worth $3bn, will be used to build manganese processing facilities, a railway to connect mining and industrial zones, and to add installed generating capacity.

The aim is to allow Gabon to capture more of the value chain from its primary product.

The second agreement, worth $234m, will go to building three power plants in Libreville, Port-Gentil, and Lambaréné, each breaking ground between 2025 and 2027.

According to Gabonese authorities, these plants will collectively add 300MW to the country’s installed energy capacity, an increase of nearly 50%.

At present, about 90% of Gabon’s city dwellers have access to grid electricity, but many rural areas are dependent on biomass. Furthermore, the installed capacity of 785MW is not enough to prevent load shedding and rationing, let alone powering future industrial growth.

As for the general economy, oil makes up 30% of its GDP and 90% of its export earnings.

In political terms, Gabon has held its first free elections this May after the 2023 coup. Brice Oligui Nguema gained 90% of the vote.

Although Gabon is classed as a middle-income country, at least a third of its population is impoverished and unemployment is running at 20%.

In particular, the new government is aiming to end its endemic corruption – it scored 135 out of 180 in the last Transparency International survey.

One recent article by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists notes that the Bongo family maintained fleets of luxury cars and bought mansions in the US and France.