Page 11 - Economic transformation
P. 11
positive gains in productivity. Figure 7 below depicts the per capita GDP change
compared to the estimated annual population change for The Gambia between 200 and
2017.
Figure 7: Gambia GDP and population growth rates (2000 to 2017)
Source: IMF 2018 WEO Database and UN Population estimates
The Figure shows an erratic performance in the per capita GDP growth rate
against a stable population growth rate. This would raise expectations of economic
growth that is struggling to keep pace with the population growth rate. Comparing the
Gambia’s experience with that of Senegal (its only neighbor), Lesotho (a country of
similar geographical and population size context) and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau (both
peer regional economies) exposes the inconsistency and paucity of economic growth in the
country as illustrated by Figure 8 below.
As can be observed, each one of the four economies have its unique trend. Lesotho,
for example, is an economy in which economic growth has been consistently and
substantially higher than population growth over the 19 years between 2000 and 2018.
On the other hand, GDP growth only started to consistently grow at a rate that is
substantially higher than population growth rates between 2010 and 2018. Senegal
11
