Guinea

Guinea is bordered to the north by Guinea Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, and to the south by Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d\'Ivoire, and has a land mass of 245,857 km². It has a population of 14.53 million and a GDP of US$30.09bn. GDP growth accelerated to 5.7 % in 2024, driven by both the mining and non-mining sectors, and is anticipated to reach low double digits in the medium term, fuelled by the commencement of Simandou iron ore operations. GDP growth is expected to grow by 6.2% in 2025 and inflation to decline to an average of 7.0% over 2025–2027.

Its currency is the Guinean Franc.

Under the 2020 constitution, Guinea is a unitary republic. The constitution provides for a president to serve as the head of state. The president is elected by universal suffrage for a maximum of two six-year terms. A prime minister, who is the head of government appointed by the president. Legislators are elected to the unicameral National Assembly by universal suffrage for an unlimited number of five-year terms.

Following a military coup in September 2021, the 2020 constitution was suspended. A transitional charter presented later that month outlined how the country would be administered until civilian rule was restored. It provided for a president as the head of state, a prime minister as the head of government, and an 81-member National Transitional Council (Conseil National de la Transition; CNT) that would serve as a legislative body.

Insufficient domestic revenue mobilization in Guinea constrains the ability to scale up priority spending, implement ambitious investment programs, and fund local development initiatives. However, Guinea has potential to increase domestic resource mobilization and key reform areas include enhancing tax audit efficiency, improving the integrity of the taxpayer database, ensuring timely filing and payment of taxes, and deepening digitalization of revenue administration.

It is home to the largest bauxite reserve in the world, from which aluminium is extracted, and is also rich in other minerals such as gold, iron, and diamonds. Guinea\'s primary exports are gold and aluminium ore. It has also been identified as one of the African countries with high hydropower potential due to its many rivers.

As the country\'s largest employer, the agriculture sector plays a key role in poverty reduction and rural development, providing income for 57% of rural households, and employment for 52% of the labour force. Institutional capacities are weak and access to public services is limited. Guinea ranks 182nd out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index 2021; inequality is high, corruption and poverty is widespread.

More than 20 international mining companies have operations in Guinea, which remains largely underexplored. Major companies mining bauxite in Guinea include Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco), Rusal, Rio Tinto (a shareholder in Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee) and Metalcorp, whose subsidiary Societe des Bauxites de Guinee is developing a US$1.4bn bauxite mine and an alumina refinery. In May 2018, Guinea approved a US$2.9bn development of a bauxite mine, port, railway and power station by China\'s TBEA. In Guinea\'s gold mining industry, AngloGold Ashanti is among the major gold miners.
Guinea is impacted by security threats to global shipping, particularly attacks perpetrated by Houthi militants in the Red Sea, and piracy off the Horn of Africa and in the Gulf of Guinea. COSCO Shipping Ports, based in Hong Kong, operates terminals and provides port logistics services globally, including the Suez Canal Terminal at Port Saïd East and the Guinea Terminal in Conakry.


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