Yearbook 2017
Guinea Bissau. According to Countryaah.com, the political crisis that characterized 2016 continued this year as well. In May, the UN Security Council called on President José Mário Vaz to appoint a prime minister to be accepted by the State-carrying African Independence Party of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Vaz belongs to PAIGC himself but has ended up in a collision course with strong forces within the party and therefore sought support from the opposition when he wanted to replace the prime minister. In September 2015, an agreement was concluded with the help of the West African cooperation organization ECOWAS, which meant that a cooperation government would be formed and then govern the country for two years. Umaro Sissoco Embaló was then appointed new Prime Minister, but PAIGC has refused to approve him because the party was not asked for his appointment. The political stalemate still existed in October when a thousand opposition supporters gathered in the capital Bissau to demand the resignation of the government. Through efforts by the country’s security forces, the protesters were prevented even more. In December, the opposition rejected a crisis plan proposed by President Vaz and a few days later threatened ECOWAS with sanctions if Guinea-Bissau did not resolve the political crisis within two months. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for frequently used acronyms and abbreviations related to as well as country profile of Guinea-Bissau.
In May, President Vaz temporarily halted all sales of cashew nuts, one of the country’s most important export goods. The reason was that international buyers proved to pay at least twice as much for cashew nuts in Senegal. When the trade was allowed again, the buyers paid record high prices, which in combination with increased exports gave growers large revenue increases and the country needed much economic growth. Since the vast majority of all exported cashews are sold in untreated condition, Guinea-Bissau could profit even more from the trade. But then investments are required that make it possible to refine the raw material in the country.
In September, salary payments were suspended to one-third of the country’s public employees. In total, there were about 4,000 suspected so-called ghost workers who are on the payrolls without really working for the state. These persons may be deceased, have retired or for other reasons no longer perform their duties.
Demography and economic geography. – West African state. The population (1,520,830 at the 2009 census, 1,745,798 in 2014, according to an estimate by UNDESA, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) is growing at a rate of 2.4% per year with the hope of life of 54.3 years (2013) and literacy at 60%. The urbanization rate is 48.5% and mainly concerns the capital Bissau (473,000 residents, according to a 2014 UNDESA estimate). Among the poorest countries in the world (80% of the residents in a state of poverty; GDP per capita with the same purchasing power, PPA, of $ 1440 in 2014; 177th place in the Human Development Index), the Guinea-Bissau has a fragile economy which, due to the political stability found in 2014, is estimated to grow by 3-4%.
History. – Extreme political instability, corruption and dramatic poverty continued to characterize the country which, precisely because of the weakness of the institutions and the lack of legality, became one of the bases of Latin American drug traffickers for the sale of drugs in Europe. The killing in 2009 of President João Bernardo Vieira, in office since 2005, the height of tensions between the army and the civil administration, precipitated the Guinea-Bissau in chaos. The new president elected in 2009 Malam Bacai Sanhá, candidate of the African Partido da indepêndencia da Guiné and Cabo Verde (PAIGC), was unable to regain control of the situation and in 2012, after his death, a coup brought the military back to power . The condemnation of the international community, ready to suspend the indispensable economic aid, ad interim, Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, and new elections were called. Held in 2014, the consultations sanctioned the victory of the PAIGC which won both the majority of deputies (57 out of 102) and the presidency, which went to its candidate José Mário Vaz.