The
present study aims to identify the existing reforms introduced by the re-cent
economic diversification policy of the government of Gabon called Plan
Stratégique Gabon Emergent. It assesses the current stage of reforms aiming to
enable the business environment. Empirical part of our research was car-ried
out with evidence relating to the impact of regulatory reform on the business
environment in Gabon. We used the World Bank Doing Business and Ibrahim Index
of African Governance databases to provide indicators of the quality of
regulatory governance from 2009 to 2018. Our key findings showed that the
investment climate is still below the expectations. The cur-rent macroeconomic
situation of the country due to the barrel price has lim-ited the capacity of
the government to finance its major reforms. Further-more, the small size of the
market weakens the potentiality of the country to attract foreign direct
investments in non-extractive sectors. In brief, Gabon’s diversification model
shows some weaknesses due to non-existent coherent industrial policy empowering
small medium-size enterprises through an ef-fective financial framework
favorable for entrepreneurship.
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