Mauritania: Development Plan 2011-2015

By African Bulletin on November 25, 2010

“In the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development  pre-conference event for LDC-IV on productive capacities, the UNCTAD’s Secretary-General, called for changing the “business as usual” approach to helping the least developed countries (LDCs) fundamentally transform their economies to support employment creation, poverty reduction and sustainable development”.

The country faces two major constraints: desertification and recurring droughts that have weighed heavily on its economic and social development. With a gross domestic product per capita relatively low, Mauritania is classified in the category of the least developed countries (LDCs). With the exception of 2006, registering a growth record rate of 11.4 %, driven by the oil production, it is the mining sector (iron, copper and more recently gold), agriculture and fisheries that are the growth vectors. Thanks to the dynamism of these sectors, the growth rate of GDP stood at 5.7% in 2008, despite an adverse international environment, marked by the food crisis, the financial crisis and declining oil production for the second consecutive year. The main economic policies of the government are defined in the three-year plan of development, covering the period 2008-2010, inspired from the Strategic Framework Plan to Fight against Poverty (PRSP 2006-2010). This plan revolves around five main pillars: improved governance, human resource development, strengthening economic growth, improving people’s access to basic services and finally the territory development. Recently, the coordination group of donors has met in Nouakchott to discuss the development plan for Mauritania for the period 2011-2015. Representatives of the Saudi Fund, Kuwait Fund, Abu Dhabi Fund , the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Islamic Development Bank and OPEC Fund attended the meeting to help define priorities in the draft presented by the Mauritanian government. This group has supported approximately 50% of the amount of the liabilities – 1.6 billion US dollars – announced, last June, during the round table in Brussels. The Coordination Group has  also approved the financial coverage of Mauritania, which has exceeded the 2.5 billion dollars. The projects funded by the group cover all the socio-economic aspects of development, including energy, communications, roads, services, health and education. For its part, the Coordination Group spokesman, Vewzi Youssef Abdelhamid, expressed his satisfaction with “the constructive atmosphere of development in Mauritania.