Business Profile
Economy
Given its resources, Guinea should not be suffering its current impoverished condition in which the annual per capita income is just over US$1000. The majority of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, producing cassava and rice as staples, plus fruit, palm, groundnuts and sometimes coffee as cash crops. Fisheries have undergone major growth in the last 10 years. The main part of the industrial economy is mining. Guinea has huge reserves of bauxite (perhaps one-quarter of the world’s total) which account for more than 90 per cent of export earnings; there are also substantial diamond deposits. Guinea also boasts massive hydroelectric power potential, some of which has been tapped. The country’s economic progress has, however, been hampered by the absence of the necessary legal, corporate and governmental machinery, allied to corruption and maladministration. For the time being, Guinea will continue to depend on substantial foreign aid, principally from France, although it is also deriving growing benefit from burgeoning regional co-operation: Cameroon, for example, processes much Guinean bauxite ore to produce aluminium. Guinea is a member of both the Mano River Union (with Liberia and Sierra Leone) and of the Gambia River Development Organisation (with The Gambia and Senegal). The country is also a member of the West African economic community, ECOWAS. France (the main recipient of Guinea’s exports) and the USA are the country’s main trading partners.
Business
Appointments should be made in advance. Tropical-weight suits and ties are worn by some business visitors, but these are not essential. A knowledge of French is helpful. Office hours: Mon-Thurs 0800-1630, Fri 0800-1300.
Commercial Information
The following organisation can offer advice: Chambre de Commerce, d’Industrie et d’Agriculture de Guinée, BP 545, Conakry (tel: 454 516; fax: 454 517).
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