Gabon - Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)

Total natural resources rents (% of GDP) in Gabon was 20.86 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 52.95 in 1979, while its lowest value was 8.70 in 1982.

Definition: Total natural resources rents are the sum of oil rents, natural gas rents, coal rents (hard and soft), mineral rents, and forest rents.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1970 9.16
1971 9.27
1972 10.74
1973 11.20
1974 40.32
1975 31.51
1976 22.69
1977 28.39
1978 29.89
1979 52.95
1980 32.96
1981 15.74
1982 8.70
1983 16.68
1984 22.86
1985 26.04
1986 10.00
1987 19.85
1988 14.10
1989 26.87
1990 32.37
1991 20.82
1992 23.63
1993 29.60
1994 27.09
1995 29.83
1996 33.52
1997 30.76
1998 15.91
1999 26.18
2000 45.02
2001 27.76
2002 25.63
2003 22.06
2004 28.13
2005 39.58
2006 40.64
2007 38.60
2008 45.48
2009 27.27
2010 33.42
2011 37.69
2012 37.93
2013 32.43
2014 26.77
2015 12.48
2016 11.57
2017 18.84
2018 23.15
2019 20.86

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP