Economy

Pre-independence Equatorial Guinea depended on cocoa production for hard currency earnings, and in 1959, it had the highest per capita income of Africa.

The discovery of large oil reserves in 1996 and its subsequent exploitation have contributed to a dramatic increase in government revenue. As of 2004, Equatorial Guinea is the third-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its oil production has risen to 360,000 barrels/day, up from 220,000 only two years earlier.

Forestry, farming and fishing are also major components of GDP, with subsistence farming predominating. However, the deterioration of the rural economy under successive brutal regimes has diminished any potential for agriculture-led growth.

Whilst Equatorial Guinea is currently one of the largest producers of oil in Africa, many improvements have been made to the living conditions of the people; however, most people live in poverty. Despite a per capita GDP (PPP) of more than US$30,000, which is as of 2006 the second highest in the world (after Luxembourg), Equatorial Guinea ranks 121st out of 177 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index.

In July 2004, the US Senate published an investigation into Riggs Bank, a Washington-based bank into which most of Equatorial Guinea's oil revenues were paid until recently, and which also banked for Chile's Augusto Pinochet. The Senate report, as to Equatorial Guinea, showed that at least US$35 million were siphoned off by Obiang, his family and senior officials of his regime. The president has denied any wrongdoing. While Riggs Bank in February 2005 paid US$9 million as restitution for its banking for Chile's Augusto Pinochet, no restitution was made with regard to Equatorial Guinea, as reported in detail in this Anti-Money Laundering Report from Inner City Press.