Benin

Benin has a land mass of 114,763km² and is bordered by Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Niger, and has a 121km-long coastline on the Gulf of Guinea. The country has a population of 14.5 million and a GDP of US$19.7bn.

Benin’s artists were well known for working in many materials, particularly brass, wood, and ivory. They were famous for their bas-relief sculptures, particularly plaques, and life-size head sculptures. The plaques typically portrayed historical events, and the heads were often naturalistic and life size.

Growth is projected to stabilize at 6.2% between 2024 and 2026, averaging 3.5% per capita, driven by infrastructure investment and the expansion of the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ). Inflation is projected to remain below 3% in the short term. With reforms aimed at improving tax administration, the budget deficit is expected to continue to fall, reaching 3% in 2025. The current account deficit is projected to contract to 4.4% in 2024 and 4.2% in 2025 thanks to increased manufacturing exports. The main risks to the outlook concern the decline in trade with Nigeria, the negative effects of climate change, the deteriorating security situation in the north, and the uncertainty linked to the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from the Economic Community of West African States.

Over the past two decades, the structure of the economy has evolved slightly, with the share of services increasing from 44.6% of GDP in 2003 to 51.6% in 2022, at the expense of industry, whose share fell from 25.8% to 18.7%. The share of agriculture has stagnated at 29.6%.

Mineral production consists of clay, gravel, limestone and sand, and small amounts of gold produced by artisanal miners.
From 2021 to February 2024, the public authorities raised $1.67 billion on international capital markets. Access to capital markets was facilitated by instruments such as the African Development Fund’s €195 million partial credit guarantee, which enabled Benin to raise €350 million on favourable terms in 2023.
To help address pressing financing needs and support the country’s National Development Plan 2018-25 and catalyse donor support, Benin has accessed the international Monetary Fund’s (IMF) extended fund facility and extended credit facility with a financial package of nearly US$650m, which is four times Benin’s quota at the IMF.

Niger launched the Niger-Benin export pipeline project in September 2019, and in the same year, Total signed a gas supply agreement with Benin and its state utility, Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique for the development of a 0.5Mtpa floating, storage and regasification unit, the first in West Africa which started in 2021.

Total will develop and operate the regasification infrastructure that will comprise a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) located offshore Benin and an offshore pipeline connexion to the existing and planned power plants in Maria Gléta.

Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF. ?>