Mauritania - Islamic Development Bank

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 

ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP 

MEMBER COUNTRY 

PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY OF THE IDB GROUP 

FOR 

MAURITANIA 

2011-2015G / 1432 - 1436H 

Rabi Thani 1432H (March 2011)

MAP OF MAURITANIA * 

* The boundaries, colors, denominations and other information shown on any map in this document do not imply any judgment 

on the part of IDB concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 iii

CURRENCY 

US$1 = 283.500 UM 

Euro 1 = 398.074 UM 

Rates as of November 10, 2010 

ABBREVIATIONS and ACRONYMS 

ACP : Africa Caribbean Pacific 

ADB : African Development Bank 

ADER : Agency for Development of Renewable Energy 

AFD : Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency) 

AICD : Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic 

AMU : Arab Maghreb Union 

APAUS : Agency for Promotion of Universal Access to basic services 

APSM : Agency for Projects Study and Monitoring 

BCM : Central Bank of Mauritania 

CAS : Country Assistance Strategy 

CILSS : Comité permanent Inter-État de Lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel 

CoA : Court of Accounts 

CPI : Commissariat for Promotion of Investments 

DRPSS : Regional Health Directorates 

EBA : Everything But Arms 

ECF : Extended Credit Facility 

ECOWAS : Economic Community of West African States 

ENER : Etablissement National de l’Entretien Routier 

EPA : Economic Partnership Agreement 

EPI : Expanded Program on Immunization 

EPVC : Enquête Permanente sur les Conditions de Vie des Ménages 

EU : European Union 

FAO : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 

FDI : Foreign Direct Investments 

GAVI : Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization 

GAVI : Government Alliance on Vaccinates Initiative 

GDP : Gross Domestic Product 

GIS : General Inspectorate of the State 

GOED : Group Operations Evaluation Department 

GoM : Government of Mauritania 

GPRSF : Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategic Framework 

GPRSP : Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 

HIPC : Highly Indebted Poor Countries 

HIV : Human Immuno-deficiency Virus/Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome 

HMIS : Health Management Information System 

ICD : Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector 

ICIEC : Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investment and Export Credit 

IDB : Islamic Development Bank 

IMF : International Monetary Fund 

IMR : Infant Mortality Rate 

IMR : Infant Mortality Rate 

IT : Information Technologies 

ITAP : Investment Technical Assistance Program 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 v

ITFC : International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation 

LDMC : Least Developed Member Country 

M&E : monitoring and evaluation 

MAED : Ministry of Economic Affairs and Development 

MAED : Ministry of Economic Affairs and Development 

MC : Member Country 

MCPS : Member Country Partnership Strategy 

MCPS : Member Country Partnership Strategy 

MDGs : Millennium Development Goals 

MDRI : Multilateral debt Relief Initiative 

MF : Ministry of Finance 

MfDR : Management for Development Results 

MFN : most favored nation 

MI : Management Information 

MICS : Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 

MMR : Maternal Mortality Rate 

MMR : Maternal Mortality Rate 

MOH : Ministry of Health 

MOHSA : Ministry of Health and Social Assistance 

MoU : Memorandum of Understanding 

MPSMA : Ministry of Public Sector and Modernization of the Administration 

MSEs : Micro and Small Enterprises 

NGO : Non Governmental Organization 

ODA : Official Development Assistance 

OMVS : Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal 

PDF : Project Development Facility 

PHC : Primary Health Care 

PRECASP : Projet de Renforcement des Capacités du Secteur Public 

PRODEC : Program of Education Development 

PRODESS : Program of Health and Social Development 

PRS : Poverty Reduction Strategy 

PRSP : Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 

RSDS : Rural Sector Development Strategy 

SECF : State Secretary for Promotion of Women 

SEZ : Special Economic Zone 

SOMAGAZ : Société Mauritanienne de Gaz 

SOMELEC : Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité 

SONIMEX : National company for imports and exports 

STR : Special Intervention Program 

TB : Tuberculosis 

TFP : Technical and Financial Partners 

TFPD : Trade Finance Program 

TFR : Total Fertility Rate 

UM : Mauritanian Ouguiyas 

UNDP : United Nations Development Program 

UNFPA : United Nations Population Fund 

UNICEF : United Nations Children’s Fund 

VPD : Vaccine-preventable disease 

WAEMU : West African Economic and Monetary Union 

WHO : World Health Organization 

vi 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015

Country Department (Coordinator) 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

MCPS Team 

Director : Rami M. Saeed Ahmed 

Division Manager : Salah Mansour 

Lead Economist : Irfan Aleem 

Economist-Country Manager for Mauritania : Rami Abdelkafi 

IDB Group Entities and Departments 

ICIEC/ITAP : Bessem Soua 

ICD : Zakiyoulahi Sow 

ITFC : Mourad Bouzrouri 

IRTI : Abdelkader Chachi 

Human Development Department : El Bashier Sallam 

Infrastructure Department : Hatem El Bakkali 

Rabat Regional Office : Abderrahman El Glaoui/ Abdelfettah Ouedghiri 

Islamic Solidarity Fund Department : Ahmed Maaty 

OEO : Abdelhameed Mohamed Bashir 

Agriculture Department : Ali Khan 

Legal Department : Fathaallah Elguernaoui 

Consultant 

Agriculture and Rural Development : Abdelkrim Oka 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 vii

Table of Contents 

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... xi 

I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 

II. COUNTRY CONTEXT, RECENT ECONOMIC TRENDS AND CHALLENGES ............................. 2 

1. Geographical and Socio-Political-Historical Context ................................................. 2 

2. Recent Economic Trends and Challenges .................................................................. 2 

3. Structural Weaknesses .............................................................................................. 5 

4. Key constraints to economic growth in the medium term ........................................ 7 

III. MAURITANIA’S VISION, DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES .......................... 10 

1. Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2001-2015 .......................................................... 10 

2. Risks to Government Strategy ................................................................................... 12 

IV. PAST AND CURRENT INTERVENTIONS OF IDB GROUP AND INVOLVEMENT 

OF OTHER DONORS ..................................................................................................... ...... 12 

1. IDB Group Portfolio in Mauritania ............................................................................. 12 

2. Lessons Learned from Evaluation of Past IDB Group Intervention in Mauritania ..... 13 

3. Other Donors Involvement in Mauritania ................................................................. 14 

V. ELEMENTS OF IDB GROUP PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY ........................................................ 15 

1. Strategic framework for the Mauritania MCPS .......................................................... 15 

2. PILLAR I: Enhancing Human Development through Health ....................................... 16 

2.1 Current situation .............................................................................................. 16 

2.2 Main Constraints .............................................................................................. 17 

2.3 Government’s Strategy For the Health Sector ................................................. 18 

2.4 Proposed Interventions (with donors) to Help Government Meet its Goals ... 18 

2.5 Suggestions and Recommendations for the Government ............................... 18 

3. PILLAR II: Rural Development and Food Security ...................................................... 19 

3.1 Current Status ................................................................................................. 19 

3.2 Constraints ....................................................................................................... 19 

3.3 Opportunities .................................................................................................. 20 

3.4 Government Strategy ...................................................................................... 20 

3.5 Proposed IDB Group Interventions .................................................................. 21 


4. PILLAR III: Enhancing and Diversifying the Foundations of a Modern Economy ....... 23 

4.1 Private Sector Development / Islamic Finance ................................................ 23 

4.2 Trade Finance & Insurance .............................................................................. 26 


5. Cross-Cutting Theme: Capacity Building .................................................................... 27 

5.1 Current situation and Constraints .................................................................... 27 

5.2 Government Strategy and Objectives .............................................................. 28 

5.3 IDB Group Proposed Strategy .......................................................................... 28 

VI. RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES ............................................................................................... 29 

VII. CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD ................................................................................ 30 

ANNEXES .................................................................................................................................... 31 

Mauritania at a Glance .............................................................................................................. 33 

Results Matrix ............................................................................................................................ 34 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 ix

As part of its new Vision, the IDB Group has embarked 

on major reforms to improve the efficiency and the 

effectiveness of its business processes, enhance 

country-focus and services delivery. The preparation 

of the current Member Country Partnership Strategy 

(MCPS) for Mauritania falls under this new vision 

and new business process. The MCPS is a strategy 

developed through a process of dialogue with the 

Member Country with a view to help program Group 

activities and monitoring their impact. 

This MCPS for Mauritania is part of the first set of 

MCPSs that the IDB Group is launching and reflects the 

importance that the Group attaches to Mauritania. 

The rationale for including Mauritania in the first set 

is that it is in a critical step of its development process 

after passing through a difficult period marked by 

external shocks and internal crises, and the country 

is updating its development strategy. This provides 

the IDB Group, as a stakeholder with a key interest 

in achieving Mauritania’s successful development, 

an opportune moment to form a partnership with 

Mauritania consistent with its development priorities 

and the IDB Group 1440 Vision and strategic thrusts. 

Preparation of this MCPS was based on extensive 

consultation with Government, development 

partners and civil society. During the course of 

two IDB Group Missions, including ICD, ITFC and 

ICIEC, the Group consulted extensively with the 

Government, other development partners, the 

private sector and civil society including members of 

the opposition in parliament. This MCPS is based on 

these consultations. 

This MCPS is anchored on the vision and priorities 

of PRSP III (2011-2015) which lays out ambitious 

targets for an acceleration of the GDP growth rate 

from an average of 3.8% during the previous PRSP 

period (2006-2010) to 5.5%, and almost halving 

poverty from 42% in 2008 to 25% in 2015 when it 

only declined by 6% in the previous five years. Child 

and maternal mortality remain at alarming levels and 

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals 

will be a challenge in these areas. 

The main driver of growth under the PRSP III is 

the services sector, projected to generate over 

Executive Summary 

half the targeted growth in GDP, with industry 

making the second largest contribution of 31%. 

With private enterprises expected to play a key 

role in both sectors, the prospects of achieving the 

targeted growth rate therefore hinge on how private 

enterprises, especially SMEs, can be encouraged to 

invest in the face of the structural challenges facing 

the economy. The weak enabling environment 

clearly poses a challenge and there is an urgent need 

to strengthen the fragile banking system to improve 

access to finance, resolve ambiguities in the legalregulatory 

framework including those related to land 

ownership, and create the necessary infrastructure, 

especially energy, and transportation. However, the 

structural challenges facing the economy run deeper. 

The MCPS for Mauritania has looked in depth at 

the reasons for the chronic poverty prevailing in 

the country amidst large natural resources such 

as fisheries, oil, copper, iron ore and gold. All the 

evidence indicates that Mauritania has a unique dual 

economy structure: 

• A subsistence economy supporting more than 

two-thirds of the population and focused on 

crop production, livestock management and 

traditional coastal fisheries, 

• A natural resource based modern “enclave” 

economy using capital-intensive production 

techniques to produce raw materials (iron ore, 

gold, copper, oil and deep-sea fishing) with little 

or no value-added for export markets. 

The link between these two economies has been 

very weak. During the past decade, high and 

sustained rents from extraction of mineral resources, 

fisheries and foreign aid have continued to be the 

main drivers of Mauritania’s economy while the 

agriculture sectors contribution to growth has been 

small and the manufacturing sector has still to takeoff. 

In particular, as the value added to raw material 

exports is limited and given the capital-intensive 

nature of extraction activities, the demand for labor, 

the hallmark of the modern sector of developing 

economies, has been limited or negligible. The 

economy appears trapped in a situation of high 

poverty that adversely affects its development - a 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 xi

situation made worse by external and internal shocks 

such as droughts. 

These and other developments - the difficulty 

that the country has experienced in making rice 

production in irrigated areas economic despite 

immense and dedicated effort by the Government 

and donors spread over a dozen years - appear 

to be symptoms of the economy suffering from 

“Dutch Disease” common to natural resource based 

economies. International experience suggests 

that good governance in the management of the 

natural resource rents is necessary to address this 

challenge together with human development and 

diversification of the economy. 

To assist the Government address the above 

mentioned structural challenges, the MCPS mission 

identified three pillars and one cross-cutting theme 

in agreement with the Government and other 

stakeholders supported by a financing envelope of 

US$ 700 Million. The pillars are: 

• Pillar-1: Enhancing Human Development through 

Health 

• Pillar-2: Rural development and food security 

• Pillar-3: Enhancing and Diversifying the Modern 

Economy 

The cross-cutting theme focuses on capacity building, 

including institutional development to enhance 

absorptive capacity, and is considered a pre-requisite 

for the effective implementation of this MCPS. It is 

worth noting that this MCPS also builds on the lesson 

of experience gained from the implementation of 

the framework agreement signed between IDB 

and the Government of Mauritania in 2008. This 

agreement envisaged spending a similar amount 

($700 million) through to 2012 in food security and 

related investments in (agriculture, livestock and 

infrastructure in) rural areas, human development 

with a focus on capacity building, and enhancing 

infrastructure especially in rural transportation. There 

is a strong consistency between these components 

and interventions under the proposed MCPS pillars. 

This strategic framework aims to build bridges 

between the two economies by helping to diversify 

the modern economy (by improving the enabling 

environment for private sector development, direct 

investments to help add value to natural resources, 

and supporting infrastructure investment), to invest 

in human capital (through capacity building and 

xii 

better health outcomes), and to strengthen the 

rural sector to enhance food security and provide 

raw materials for agro-processing by the modern 

economy. 

A key feature of this MCPS is to help Mauritania to 

diversify and enhance its modern economy and 

strengthen its linkages with the subsistence/informal 

economy by encouraging and supporting private 

sector development to facilitate the processing 

and value addition of the resources it is blessed 

with. International experience suggests two things. 

First, from a macroeconomic perspective, the 

Government should urgently review its policies 

regarding the management and use of earnings 

from exports of natural resources and avoid any 

excessive appreciation of the exchange rate (which 

can even make investments in irrigated agriculture 

uneconomic) by smoothening the use of such 

rents. Second, the Government should take steps 

to diversify the economy by adding more value to 

extracted resources before exporting them. The third 

pillar provides support to the goal of diversification. 

To help diversify the Mauritanian economy, IDB 

Group aims to promote flagship projects that have a 

long-term impact in key areas such as fisheries, and 

livestock (dairy, meat and hides) and also help, where 

it can in processing of minerals. This will require the 

creation of a business environment, including Islamic 

Finance, conducive to local and foreign private 

investment as well as the development of critical 

economic infrastructure especially roads and energy. 

The expected outcomes from the Mauritania 

MCPS process include a partnership with a strong 

government ownership of the intervention 

under the planned five-year program tailored to 

the vision and objectives underlying PRSP III. In 

addition, by working in close cooperation with 

other development partners, and focusing on 

key constraints to achieving the Government’s 

development goals in areas where the Group has 

a comparative advantage, the Group expects to 

achieve the impact outlined in the Results Matrix. 

The approach taken in preparing this MCPS, 

including extensive consultation and the strategy of 

diversification, will help Mauritania better manage 

and accommodate unexpected external or internal 

shocks and improve the quality of IDB Group’s 

portfolio. 


I. INTRODUCTION 

1. As part of its new Vision 1440H, the IDB 

Group has embarked on major reforms to 

improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its 

business processes and to enhance country focus 

and services delivery. Preparation of the Member 

Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) is a key 

priority under the reform agenda and designed to 

be the foundation of the IDB Group’s dialog with 

Member Countries (MCs). The MCPS sets out a 

shared diagnosis of the development challenges 

facing the country, and a selective program of 

planned IDB Group interventions tailored to meet 

the country’s objectives taking account of the 

Group’s comparative advantage and activities of 

other development partners. The MCPS is results 

based and includes a monitoring and evaluation 

framework. 

2. The MCPS for Mauritania is part of the 

first set of MCPSs that IDB Group has launched. 

The reasons for selecting Mauritania include 

its classification as one of the Least Developed 

Member Countries of the IDB Group, a strategic 

location linking Europe and West Africa, and a 

country in a critical stage of its development-returning 

to constitutional order and following a 

deep political crisis and several decades of external 

shocks and internal crises. Moreover, Mauritania 

is in the process of providing guidelines for its 

new development strategy, and this provides 

the IDB Group an opportune moment to form a 

strategic partnership to enhance the impact of its 

interventions by aligning them with the country’s 

development priorities. 

3. Preparation of this MCPS was based on 

extensive consultation with Government, 

development partners and civil society. During 

the course of two IDB Group Missions, the Group 

consulted extensively with the Government, 

other development partners, the private sector 

and civil society including members of the 

MEMBER COUNTRY PARTNERSHIP 

STRATEGY - MAURITANIA 

opposition in parliament. This MCPS is based on 

these consultations. It is, however, worth noting 

that consultations between IDB Group and the 

Government of Mauritania on priority areas for 

intervention are part of an on-going dialog. In 

2008, IDB and Mauritania signed a framework 

agreement, which envisaged investments from 

the Bank totaling $700 million in Mauritania 

over the period 2008-2012 in three priority 

areas. The priority areas were (a) food security 

and investments in agriculture, livestock 

and infrastructure in rural areas, (b) human 

development with a special focus on training, 

vocational literacy programs and small projects 

(especially in food security) in rural areas, and 

(c) enhancing infrastructure, especially in rural 

transportation. 

4. This MCPS identifies the priorities for 

IDB Group assistance taking into account 

the opportunities and challenges facing the 

Mauritanian economy in the medium term. 

The proposed strategy for 2011-2015 derives 

from a diagnosis of the main constraints to 

economic growth facing Mauritania (based on 

data and analyses obtained from the Government 

and development partners during the main 

MCPS mission) and a shared understanding of 

interventions to address these constraints. This 

consultative process has led to the selection 

of three main areas where future IDB Group 

interventions could have a significant impact on 

Mauritania’s economy: human development with 

a focus on health, rural development and food 

security, and diversification and enhancement of 

the modern economy. 

5. The structure of this report reflects its 

design as a strategic partnership. Section II 

presents the country context and examines 

development challenges and constraints the 

country faces. Section III outlines the vision 

and development strategy of the Government 

of Mauritania and assesses the risks to its 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 1

implementation. Section IV reviews IDB Group’s 

past and current interventions in Mauritania and 

describes involvement of other partners. The main 

elements of the proposed IDB Group strategy are 

in Section V, which develops the different pillars 

underpinning this strategy. Section VI presents 

risks in the implementation of the strategy and 

measures taken to mitigate them. Finally, Section 

VII presents the conclusions, including next steps. 

II. COUNTRY CONTEXT, RECENT ECONOMIC 

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES 

1. Geographical and Socio-Political-Historical 

Context 

6. Located in the western edge of the 

Sahara desert, Mauritania forms a key link 

between three strategic areas -- West and 

Central Africa, the Arab Maghreb Region and 

Europe. A former French colony, Mauritania 

gained independence in 1960. It has a small 

population of over 3 million but a land area 

(of 1 million square kilometres) larger than 

Pakistan and twice that of France. With most 

of the land area a desert, about two-thirds 

of the population lives in the south in rainfed 

agro-pastoral areas and in the thin sliver 

of irrigated land along the Senegal River on 

the border with Senegal. Desertification and 

drought have led to migration from rural to 

2 

urban areas and about a million now live in the 

capital, Nouakchott. While the immense desert 

contains mineral resources, it is also a source 

of security concerns for Mauritania (including 

illegal immigration and drug trafficking). 

7. Since independence, Mauritania has 

experienced significant political instability 

with a large number of coups d’état. Political 

instability has constrained private investment 

and development. The last coup d’état in August 

2008 led to a freeze in international support 

to Mauritania. However, following the Dakar 

agreement signed by all political parties, General 

Abdel Aziz retired from the military and held 

elections in July 2009, leading to his return as 

President under constitutional rule. 

2. Recent Economic Trends and Challenges 

8. During the past decade, high and sustained 

rents from extraction of mineral resources, 

fisheries and foreign aid have continued to be 

the main drivers of Mauritania’s economy while 

the agricultural sectors contribution to growth 

has been small and the manufacturing sector 

has still to take-off. Between 1990 and 2008, 

agriculture (excluding livestock) stagnated at a 

mere 3-5% of GDP, while manufacturing (small 

industries and craft) averaged 7% of GDP over 

this period and had shrunk to only about 5% of 

GDP by 2008. Industry (including mining and 


construction) accounted for 48% of GDP in 2008 

and services for 42%. Mauritania had a GDP of 

$3.0 billion in 2009 and a GDP per capita of $975 

which classifies it as an LDMC. 

9. Economic Growth during 2004-2008 

was moderate, averaging 5.5%, supported by 

prudent economic management, structural 

reforms and a surge in oil production in 2006. 

Thanks to sound macroeconomic policies— 

in particular fiscal reform including enhanced 

transparency and decentralization of financial 

control, and improved monetary management 

through Central Bank capacity building and 

exchange rate management—inflation dropped 

from 16.1% at end 2004 to 8.9% at end 2006 and 

to 7.3% in 2008. Structural reforms in this period 

included a new code for public procurement and 

steps to enhance the independence of the central 

bank. Expectations related to oil exploration drew 

an important inflow of foreign direct investment 

in 2004 and 2005 and the accompanying surge 

in oil helped Mauritania achieve an 11% growth 

rate in 2006. However, the surge in oil production 

proved to be short-lived and revision of these 

expectations downward and technical problems 

prevented the country from sustaining FDI inflow 

at a high level and lowered the growth prospects. 

10. Economic performance deteriorated in 

2008-10 due to domestic and external shocks 

and, as a result, economic growth during the 

PRSP II period 2006-2010, averaged 3.7%, well 

below plan projections of 9.4%. The global food 

and fuel price increases in 2008 weakened the 

external account--the current account deficit in 

2008 reached 15.5%--and kept inflation at 7.3%. 

The external shocks coincided with the last coup 

d’état in August 2008 and an associated drop in 

donor financing--the IMF program in the form 

of a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility was 

also interrupted following the military coup- 

-weakening economic activity in the mining, 

fishing, and the construction sectors. The global 

economic slowdown in 2009, and the unexpected 

decline in oil production, contributed to further 

fiscal and balance of payments pressures. There 

was a decline in the prices of and the demand 

for Mauritania’s main export commodities (iron, 

copper, and fish). The anticipated shift to an oileconomy 

also did not take place and by 2009, 

the average oil production was only 10,740 

barrels/day instead of the initial estimate of 

75000 barrels/day in 2006. Because of these 

developments, average GDP growth slowed to 

3.7 percent during 2006-10 (based on updated 

official figures contained in PRPS III) well below 

projections of 9.4 percent contained in PRSP II. 

11. Mauritania imports most (70%) of its food 

requirement and international food prices 

increases in 2008 directly affected national prices. 

For example, the share of food expenditures in 

total households’ expenditures increased from 

51.9% in 2004 to 57.8% in 2008. In response to this 

situation, the government adopted the Special 


Intervention Program (SIP) amounting to about 

US$ 194.2 million. The SIP, representing 15% of 

total public spending, increased the public deficit 

by 1% and helped to avoid social unrest although 

its effectiveness in alleviating food insecurity is 

not clear—see Section V—and inflation fell to 

3.9% (by yearend) in 2008, in comparison with 

7.4% in 2007. 

12. Poverty declined between 2004 and 

2008 but remains high and is mainly a rural 

phenomenon. Poverty incidence has declined 

from 47.6 percent in 2004 to about 42 percent 

in 2008 (Figure 3). The percentage of population 

living in extreme poverty in rural areas increased 

from 39.1% in 2004 to 40.8% in 2008. Recent 

domestic and external shocks have likely slowed 

progress on poverty reduction, highlighting the 

need to protect social spending and develop 

appropriate safety nets for the most vulnerable 

segments of the population. In fact, the poverty 

rate increased marginally in rural areas over the 

period 2004 - 2008 (from 59% in 2004 to 59.4% in 

2008). 

13. Poverty is more pronounced among 

households headed by persons employed in 

the agriculture sector and is increasing with 

the household size 1 . Data show that households 

headed by people employed in agriculture 

(including livestock) are the most affected by 

poverty, followed by those employed in the 

transport and communication sector. However, 

households headed by public sector wagesearners 

are less exposed to poverty. 

1 According to the EPCV 2008. 

4 

14. There was a progress in the social sectors, 

but the achievement of the Millennium 

Development Goals (MDGs) remains a key 

challenge. Mauritania ranked 154 out of 182 

countries according to the Human Development 

Index in 2009. Overall, the most important 

deficiencies in the progress toward the 

achievement of the MDGs in Mauritania are 

related to health, environment, employment 

and some gender indicators (UNDP 2010). Table 

1 shows that although Mauritania is likely to 

meet its MDG relating to access to water, it faces 

challenges in meeting the MDGs particularly 

related to maternal and child mortality. 

15. As in other countries, food insecurity is 

associated with poverty and remains one of 

the most important causes of malnutrition in 

Mauritania. Based on FAO estimates, 29% of 

Mauritanian households were food insecure in 

2008. Almost half of households do not have 

access to safe drinking water and diarrheal 

diseases, malaria and acute respiratory infections 

still claim the lives of many young children. The 

underperformance of the agriculture sector, 

characterized by an under exploitation of arable 

lands and slow progress of irrigation, is an 

important cause of food insecurity. In addition 

to the hard climate conditions, weak productivity 

of rural sector has exacerbated the threats of 

food insecurity on the Mauritanian economy. 

Land degradation, weak mechanization, high 

production costs, low access to agricultural loans, 

absence of loans devoted to livestock activities 

and lack of supports to commercialization are 

among the main factors contributing to these low 

productivity of the rural sector. 

16. More recently, lower food and fuel prices 

accompanied by the normalization of relations 

with the international community have helped 

cushion the impact of the global economic 

slowdown on the external position. The current 

account deficit was 12.7 percent in 2009, down 

from 15.7 percent in 2008. The decline in exports 

was more than offset by a marked reduction in 

imports, reflecting the contraction in economic 

activity, lower world food and fuel prices, and 

the foreign exchange rationing. The resumption 


Reduce child mortality 

TABLE 1: Millennium Development Goals 

Sector 1990 1996 2000 2002 2004 2008 

18. The share of agricultural (including livestock 

production) in GDP has been declining, despite 

its high potential, while manufacturing activity 

remains at a nascent stage. In the PRSP II, 

the Government emphasized the importance 

of improving the performance of rain-fed 

agriculture given its important role in reducing 

poverty in these areas. However, as noted above, 

agriculture, including livestock production, has 

not been performing well: the contribution of 

the traditional sector (agriculture and livestock) 

to GDP decreased from 31.2% in 1970-1974 to 

20.4% in 2000-2004 2 - see Table 2. The underlying 

trends are even more clearly visible if we separate 

agriculture and livestock production. As shown 

2 World Bank, 2005. 

(Per 1,000 live births) 

PRSP MDGs 

2010 2015 2015 

Child mortality (under five years) 129.5 125.6 122.0 … … … 128.0 55.0 45.7 

Improve maternal health 

(Per 100,000 live births) 

Reduce the rate of maternal mortality … … 747.0 … 820.0 820.0 400.0 300.0 … 

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria , and other diseases 

(In percent of ages 

15-24) 

Reduce by half the prevalence of HIV/AIDS … … 0.5 0.6 0.5 … < 1.1 < 1 1.0 

Ensure environmental sustainability 

(In percent of population) 

Access to improved water source 37.0 40.0 50.0 … 52.0 62.0 65.0 75.0 … 

Access to electricity … … 18.0 … 24.0 30.6 … … … 

Source: IMF 2010. 

of donor financing after the July 2009 election 

and the disbursement of financial compensation 

under the European Union (EU) fishing 

convention helped maintain the level of gross 

international reserves at 2.2 months of imports 

at end-December 2009. The Central Bank of 

Mauritania (BCM) restored the foreign exchange 

auction system in mid-December 2009. Following 

this restoration, and an agreement on a new 

program of reforms, the Government reached an 

agreement with the IMF for an Extended Credit 

Facility (ECF) in the amount of SDR 77.28 million 

and the first tranche from this facility was released 

in March 2010. 

3. Structural Weaknesses 

17. Mauritania has a low saving rate and almost 

all investment is financed from abroad (Figure 

4). Over the period 1997-2007, the saving rate 

(1.53% of GDP) in Mauritania was well below the 

average in its comparator countries. Investment 

has been fair robust, however, at 21% of GDP, 

but driven largely from rent stream. The increase 

in investment between 2003 and 2007 was not 

followed by an increase in saving, this rate was 

even negative (-15% of GDP) in 2005. Since 2006, 

the impact of oil revenues on investment has 

been visible with a pick of 18.76% of GDP reached 

in 2006. 


in Figure 5, on average, the share of agriculture 

in GDP averaged only 3.7 percent of GDP during 

1991 – 2008. Livestock has had a more stable and 

significant contribution to growth – an average of 

13 percent of GDP during 1991 – 2008, but the 

sector has been shrinking since 2000, attaining 

11 percent of GDP in 2008 3 . The performance 

of manufacturing (small industry and crafts) is 

not very different from agriculture and in 2008 it 

accounted for about 5% of GDP. 

19. Demand for labor in the formal economy 

(public and private) is low, relative to the size 

of the labor force, the overwhelming majority 

of which (85%) work in informal sector jobs. 

As shown in Table 3 and Figure 6, the modern 

productive sectors - mining and manufacturing - 

provide employment to only a small share (9%) 

of labor force. The official unemployment rate 

in 2008 was 32%. This high unemployment rate 

disproportionately affects the young population 

less than 25 years old. Moreover, education 

level does not appear to contribute to reducing 

this rate, since 34.5 percent of the labor force 

with secondary education and 16.5 percent for 

those with tertiary education are unemployed. 

Nationwide, the commercial sector (consisting 

3 World Bank, 2010, Country Economic Memorandum. 

6 

TABLE 2: Sectoral contribution to GDP (%) 

Sector 1960-64 1965-69 1970-74 1975-79 1980-84 1985-89 1990-94 1995-99 2000-04 

Agriculture 43.1 31.1 31.2 29.3 31.6 29.2 28.1 25.1 20.4 

Manufacturing NA NA NA NA NA 12.6 11.5 10.4 9.0 

Source: World Bank 2005. 

TABLE 3: Demand for Labor by Sector 

Formal Sector Informal Sector 

(in percent) (in percent) 

Agriculture 1.5 30.0 

Livestock 1.0 7.5 

Fisheries 2.3 2.7 

Mining 8.2 0.4 

Manufacturing 1.1 2.3 

Construction 0.9 4.0 

Transport 2.3 3.8 

Retail 1.5 27.0 

Services 11.3 9.8 

Public Administration 61.2 2.0 

Other 8.7 10.5 

Total 100 100 

Source: EPCV, 2004. 

of “services” and “retail”) is the main supplier of 

job opportunities (24.6%) followed by agriculture 

(including livestock) which employs 20.4% of the 

active population (EPCV 2008). 

20. Mauritania is highly dependent on foreign 

aid (see Figure 7). Official Development Assistance 

(ODA) received as percentage of National Income 

increased from 3.83% in 1970 to 27.39% in 1986 

and to 28.03 in 2002. The negative effects of 

the cessation of aid flows following the political 

crisis of 2008, as noted above, gives an idea of 


the vulnerability created by the dependency on 

aid. Foreign aid has also reduced the incentives 

to improve the efficiency of public policies. 

Social and governance indicators show that 

natural resource rents and aid flows have not 

efficiently contributed to economic development 

in Mauritania. In 2006, for example, Mauritania 

devoted only 2% of its GDP to education, while 

this share reached 6% of GDP in Morocco. Foreign 

aid has also many similarities to rents from 

natural resource extraction and thus has added to 

governance issues, as reflected in Table 4 which 

shows Mauritania poor performance relative to 

its neighboring countries in the region. 

4. Key Constraints to Economic Growth in the 

Medium Term 

21. The lack of progress in developing human 

capital is a critical medium- and long-term 

constraint to development in Mauritania. As 

noted above Mauritania ranks low (154 out of 

182 countries) on the Human Development Index 

in 2009. Recent domestic and external shocks 

have slowed growth and progress on poverty 

Rule of Law 

Regulatory 

Quality 

TABLE 4: Governance Index 

Government 

Effectiveness 

reduction and with it, many related aspects of 

human development, despite some achievements 

in other goals, mainly in basic education. Thanks 

to the support of the international community, 

Mauritania has been able to achieve some 

progress in fighting against HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis 

and Malaria. However, maternal and infant 

mortality rates are alarming as noted above. Also 

while there have been important achievements 

in the area of basic education, there remain 

pronounced disparities between regions--the 

gross enrolment rate in basic education in rural 

areas (estimated at 79.6% in 2008) is still below 

that in urban areas (estimated at 108.5%). The 

population in poor regions or “Wilayas” has half 

the enrollment in their richer counterparts. At the 

same time, the key role played by manufacturing 

sector in capacity building and skills development 

is conspicuous by its absence in Mauritania given 

the negligible size of this sector and the lack of 

employment opportunities, as noted above. 

22. The extraction of natural resources (iron 

ore, fisheries and recently oil) purely for 

obtaining rents without further processing 

or added value limits the benefits to the rest 

of the economy. Almost all export earnings in 

Mauritania emerge from the extraction and export 

of natural resources –iron ore, copper, gold, oil, 

and fisheries—and primarily from iron ore and 

fisheries—see table 5. This has created a high and 

sustained level of economic rents. However, this 

created several challenges. First, the existence 

of the windfall income has helped increase 

Government revenue, it has also created wellknown 

governance problems associated with the 

lack of transparency and the distribution of these 

rents as noted by analysis done by independent 

Political 

Stability No 

Violence 

Voice and 

Accountability 

Overall Index 

2009 1996 2009 1996 2009 1996 2009 1996 2009 1996 2009 1996 

BURKINA FASO -0.3 -0.3 -0.1 -0.2 -0.7 -0.9 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.3 -1.9 -2.2 

MALI -0.4 -0.6 -0.4 0.1 -0.8 -1.5 -0.3 0.7 0.2 0.7 -2.4 -1.0 

MAURITANIA -0.8 -0.9 -0.7 -1.1 -0.9 .. -1.2 0.6 -1.0 -1.0 -5.2 -2.4 

MOROCCO -0.2 0.1 0.0 0.3 -0.1 0.2 -0.4 -0.5 -0.8 -0.6 -1.7 0.0 

TUNISIA 0.2 -0.2 0.1 0.7 0.4 0.5 0.2 0.0 -1.3 -0.9 -0.3 -0.1 

Source: World Bank 2010. 


8 

TABLE 5: Exports Composition (% of Total Exports) 

2009 1996 2009 1996 2009 1996 

Iron Ore 57.9 59.83 68.58 35.88 41.27 34 

Gold na na na 0.13 2.80 16 

Copper na na na 0.44 12.58 14 

Oil na na na 50.05 25.02 10 

Fisheries 

products 

41.92 39.87 31.41 13.5 18.31 26* 

* For 2011 estimates the number for fisheries includes earnings 

from licenses. 

Source: CMAP 2010. 

observers –see table 4. Second, as noted above, 

Mauritania has simply been extracting these 

resources without adding much value thus 

limiting the size of its manufacturing sector and 

with it employment opportunities. Third, the 

dependence of the country on two main types 

of natural resources (iron ore and fisheries) has 

created vulnerability to external shocks. In 2010, 

the signs of recovery of the economy are mainly 

due to the performance of the iron ore sector. 

23. Poor performance of the agriculture and 

livestock production -- the main sources of 

livelihood for households in rural areas. The 

challenges faced by the Mauritanian farmers in 

making irrigated rice production profitable after 

more than a decade of efforts and investments 

reflects additional challenges. Farmers in rain-fed 

areas face the additional challenge from droughts 

and desertification, as noted above. The poor 

performance in agriculture over the past two 

decades, as already noted above, has occurred 

despite the large amounts of foreign aid directed 

to this sector. In 1994, 58% of foreign aids was 

allocated to rural and agriculture development 

(mainly for irrigation) 4 and some important 

projects were implemented including the 

Programme de Développement de l’Agriculture 

Irriguée en Mauritanie (PDIAIM) supported by the 

World Bank. 

24. Absence of an enabling environment for 

private sector development: The development 

of industries outside natural resource extraction 

faces several constraints in Mauritania. The small 

4 http://www.ifad.org/evaluation/public_html/eksyst/doc/country/pa/ 

mauritania/cesmr98f_1.htm. 

size of the local market, poor infrastructure 

(roads, ports) and the high cost of water and 

electricity, shortages in skilled labor, weaknesses 

in the regulatory environment and lack of access 

to financing are among the main constraints to 

the development of Mauritanian industry. The 

poor enabling environment makes Mauritania 

unattractive for investors including both foreign 

and local including SMEs. It is clear that oil and 

iron ore exploitation were the main beneficiaries 

of the increase of FDI flows in 2004-2005 

periods (see figure 8). This has exacerbated the 

unemployment situation as noted above. In 

addition to the weak demand for labor, the skills 

mismatch problem is also a critical constraint 

pointing to the need to improve skills and raise 

the low productivity. 

25. All the evidence indicates that Mauritania 

has a unique dual economy structure: 

• A subsistence economy supporting more than 

two-thirds of the population and focused 

on crop production, livestock management 

and traditional coastal fisheries. Despite the 

massive exodus of the population from rural to 

urban areas mainly to Nouakchott (5% in 2008 

against 60% in 1960) 5 , following recurrent food 

crises (drought, locust invasions), two-thirds 

of the population still lives in and around the 

rain-fed agro-pastoral areas in the south. 

• A natural resource based modern “enclave” 

economy using capital-intensive production 

techniques to produce raw materials (iron ore, 

5 FAO et Programme Alimentaire Mondial, 2008, «Mission inter-agences de 

consultation avec le Gouvernement et les partenaires au développement». 


gold, copper, oil and deep-sea fishing) with 

little or no value-added for export markets. 

The two economies are disconnected and 

the spillover effect seen in most developing 

countries (without a high dependence on 

natural resource rents) has not taken place. 

26. This unique economic structure has 

produced mixed results: On the positive 

side, the enclave economy has provided high 

and consistent rents that have allowed the 

Government to finance development activities 

including infrastructure for irrigated agriculture. 

On the negative side, the enclave economy has 

only limited links with the subsistence economy. 

In particular as the value added to raw material 


nature of extraction activities, the demand for 

labor is negligible. 

27. Even worse, the economy reveals the 

classic symptoms of suffering from the wellknown 

“Dutch disease” common to natural 

resource based economies. The “Dutch disease” 

effect, which arises in economies enjoying 

large and sustained rents from extraction and 

export of natural resources (see figure 9), leads 

to an appreciation of the exchange rate, which 

undermines the competitiveness of investments 

in manufacturing and commercial agriculture. 

The effect works through an appreciation of 

the exchange rate which reduces the viability 

of investments in tradable goods. The latest 

consistent IMF data series available on the 

real effective exchange rate (REER) for the past 

decade 2000-2010 is supportive of this view and 

shows the REER remaining fairly constant despite 

the country running large current account deficits 

- see figure 10. This graph includes the post 

2006 period for which the IMF feels the data 

is most reliable. It shows the REER remaining 

fairly constant between 2006 and 2010 at a time 

when current account deficits were exceptionally 

large (-18.3 % in 2007, -15.7 % in 2008 and -12.7 


% in 2009). The short-lived oil boom in 2006- 

2007, which accounts for only a small share of 

the natural resource rents accumulated during 

several decades, seems to have had little effect 

on the REER. 

28. Evidence of “pronounced Dutch Disease 

effects” during the three decades from 1970 

-2000 has also been noted in independent 

analysis 6 focusing on governance issues arising 

from windfall gains. This assessment is based on 

evidence indicating: (a) stagnation in the share of 

agriculture (including livestock) with its 2004 share 

in GDP of 16 percent “barely half that expected for 

a country at Mauritania’s level of development” 

and noteworthy for a country with “150,000 

irrigable hectares which, with improved livestock 

management and roads to access markets, could 

lift agriculture’s share of GDP above the expected 

one-third level”, (b) manufacturing is “two-thirds 

the size expected”, and (c) the remarkably low 

commercial farm output has cut the agricultural 

sectors capacity “to stimulate agro-processing”. 

The root cause of this economic stagnation is 

attributed to a “rent driven economy” which in the 

three decades received sustained high rents from 

iron ore extraction, fishing and aid amounting to 

“one-third of GDP” and with political allocation of 

the rents, encouraged by lack of transparency and 

poor governance. 

29. It is vital that the Government develops a 

strategy to manage economic rents from natural 

resources extraction to mitigate the adverse 

economic effects of long-term exchange rate 

appreciation and strengthen the links between 

the two economies. It can do this by among other 

things: (i) Moving towards more value-added 

production in all areas where it has a comparative 

advantage in terms of resources—fisheries, 

livestock, mineral ores, and oil. (ii) Addressing 

other constraints to enhancing linkages between 

the two dual economies for example human 

development and capacity building; and (iii) 

Facilitating investment in activities such as 

construction, that is less vulnerable to exchange 

rate appreciation. 

6 See “Aid and Rent-Driven Growth: Mauritania, Kenya and Mozambique 

compared, Richard M. Auty, 2007. 

10 

III. MAURITANIA’S VISION, DEVELOPMENT 

CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES 

1. Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2001-2015 

30. The PRSP (2001-15) sets out the vision 

of Mauritania as a politically stable and 

democratic country, which transforms itself 

into a decentralized and modern state, well 

integrated with the regional and global economy 

on the path of sustainable economic and social 

development. The Government is implementing 

this vision through multi-year action plans the 

latest of which, PRSP III covering the period 2011- 

2015, is in the final phase of preparation following 

consultation with civil society, private sector and 

development partners. PRSP III has been designed 

taking account of the lessons learnt from the 

implementation of PRSP II and I (see Box 1). 

31. For PRSP III, the Mauritanian government 

intends to maintain the objectives set in the two 

previous PRSPs. PRSP III outlines development 

priorities and interventions in a five-year action 

plan, clustered around four strategic objectives 

outlined below with increased emphasis on 

private sector development, monitoring and 

evaluation and donor coordination as a crosssector 

theme. 

i. Acceleration of Growth and Stabilization of 

Economy: The Plan will meet this objective 

through interventions designed to stabilize 

macroeconomic balances, improve the 

business environment for private sector 

development, support sectors with a potential 

for high growth, and reform the state 

owned enterprise sector to facilitate fiscal 

consolidation. 

ii. Anchoring Growth in the Economic Sphere 

of the Poor: The Plan aims to achieve this 

objective through interventions that support 

rural development, target pockets of urban 

poor, promote microfinance and SMEs, 

enhance food security, reduce environment 

degradation and reorient policies to focus 

on targeted poverty reduction programs. 

Expected outcomes of these interventions are 

an increase in the contribution of rural sector 


Box 1: 

Lessons Learnt from the Implementation of PRSPII 

While progress was made in fiscal management and 

judicial system, the results from PRSP II show that it failed 

to achieve the ambitious goals originally set. Progress was 

made in the management of both the expenditure system 

and the tax system, while reforms were made to improve 

and streamline the civil administration system. Further, 

while investments were made in rural areas, they did not 

have a significant impact in developing the rural sector or 

curbing unsustainable migration to urban centers. Poverty 

increased in rural areas and economic growth has averaged 

3.3% excluding oil and 3.8% including oil, about half of 

the initial target of 8.4% for the 2006-2010 period. 

The implementation of PRSP II faced several constraints. 

It was implemented over the 2007-2009--a period where 

both the national and international environment was not 

favorable for the achievement of PRSP II objectives. 

Among other things, the food crisis has significantly 

contributed to maintaining poverty at alarming levels. 

Moreover, oil production and revenue were below 

expectations and had a significant impact on financial 

resources available for achieving the various government 

programs. In addition, there is a need to mention the 

suspension of funding by several donors during the 

political crises of 2006 and 2008. 

Although part of the PRSP II objectives, monitoring 

and evaluation did not take place throughout the 

implementation. The absence of information systems, 

lack of human resources and lack of coordination 

within government and between government and its 

partners have also strongly contributed to the failure 

of the PRSP II. 

to growth from 0.6% during the PRSP II period 

to 1% in the third plan period; and meet 50% 

of the cereal needs of the population through 

local production. 

iii. Development of Human Resources and 

Provision of Basic Services: The action plan 

calls for human resource development and 

increased access to basic services as an 

important determinant of poverty reduction. 

Priority areas for action include improving 

education access and quality, health care 

and nutrition, employment opportunities, 

water and sanitation, child and women 

advancement, and ensuring universal access 

to basic services. 

iv. Improving governance and Capacity Building: 

The Plan highlights strengthened governance 

and capacity building as critical for achieving 

the objectives of the PRSP. It places special 

emphasis on curbing corruption and improving 

transparency of government operations. To 

enhance effectiveness of government plans, 

it stresses the need for capacity building in 

relevant parts of the public and private sectors 

and civil society. 

v. Monitoring, evaluation, and coordination of 

PRSP III action plan has been enlisted as a cross 

cutting axis to support the core objectives of 

the strategy. The Plan calls for strengthening 

the institutional system for implementation 

and follow-up of the strategy, enhancing the 

monitoring, evaluation, and reporting systems. 

32. PRSP III lays out ambitious targets as 

outcomes by the year 2015: (i) the GDP per 

capita to reach US$ 1374 by 2015 (compared 

with US$ 1096.3 in 2010), driven by an average 

GDP growth rate of 4.7% (compared with 3.8% 

during the previous PRSP period, 2006-2010), 

and an investment rate (as % of GDP) at 28.1% 

(compared with an average investment ratio 

of 19.4% in the previous PRSP period); (ii) the 

incidence of poverty to decline from 42% in 

2008 to 25% in 2015 (with rural poverty to fall 

to 35% from about 60% in 2008), (iii) an average 

inflation rate of 5%, (iv) universal access to basic 

education and an illiteracy rate of 15% among 

population aged 15 years and up, (V) provision 

of full health coverage within a radius of 5 km, 

reduce the infant mortality rate to 40 ‰, the child 

mortality rate to 55 ‰ and the maternal mortality 

rate to less than 300 per 100,000 and reverse the 

progression of HIV / AIDS, with prevalence in 

the general population of less than 1%, and (v) 

increase the rate of connection to water supplies 

(rural and urban) to 74%. 

33. The main driver of growth, under the Plan 

is the services sector. The Plan projects the 

services sector to generate over half (51%) of the 

targeted 5.5% growth in GDP. In achieving this 

outcome, it expects private enterprises to play a 

key role especially in the following service areas: 

transportation, telecommunication, commerce, 


hotel business, and banking and insurance. 

Industry provides the second lead contribution 

(31%) followed by the primary sector (18%). The 

growth in industry hinges on the development 

of iron ore project, Guelb II, government 

investments in construction, electricity sector 

reform, and improvement in business climate. 

Agriculture sector, on the other hand, depends 

on improved irrigation and focused investment to 

develop livestock, fisheries, and rural businesses. 

Table 6 highlights the expected real GDP growth 

under PRSP III. 

2. Risks to Government Strategy 

34. There are several risks to the Government 

development strategy. First, the weak capacity 

of public agencies will hamper efficient 

implementation. Weak governance and 

policymaking framework will lead to a disconnect 

between the PRSP development framework and 

actual investment by the public sector. Also going 

from PRSP to actual budget formulation calls for 

close coordination between local regional and 

national policies. The Government is aware of 

this risk but it is unclear if the planned mitigation 

measures under PRSP III will prove adequate. 

35. Secondly, there is a large funding gap for 

implementing PRSP III. The Government only has 

resources to fund less than half of the financing 

requirement of UM 1338 billion. It is unclear 

how the large resource gap is to be covered. 

The document indicates that the Government 

is looking to public-private partnerships to help 

close this gap. However, given the status and rate 

of private sector development in Mauritania, the 

prospects of the private sector providing such 

large amount of funding pose serious challenge 

for the implementation of PRSP III. 

36. Thirdly, given that there are already 

indications that country is suffering from ‘Dutchdisease’ 

phenomenon, it might have negative 

implications on development efforts of the 

12 

TABLE 6: GDP Growth Rate (Base Scenario) 

Base Scenario; PRSP III 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 

GDP Growth 3.7% 4.6% 5.2% 5.4% 6.0% 5.4% 5.5% 

Poverty Incidence 42% 35% - - - - 25% 

Government. The rise of services sector and 

decline in manufacturing and agriculture over the 

years points to affects the unlinked dual economy 

is having on the pro-poor sectors. Without 

appropriate strategy to neutralize the affects 

of capital flows as a result would undermine 

Government efforts to develop these sectors. 

37. Fourth, the Plan does not take account of 

the “Dutch Disease” effect, which the economy 

appears to be suffering from. This creates the 

risk that the planned drivers of growth may not 

materialize as expected. 

38. Lastly, the Plan indicates that the 

Government is fully aware of the risks posed 

by external shocks but it offers no concrete 

measures to mitigate these risks. Change in 

commodity prices in international markets, and 

natural disasters such as drought, flooding, and 

locust attacks have hampered the economic 

development in the past. 

39. On the upside, there are two uncertainties. 

First, the country may be successful in finding 

new resources from on-going exploration 

activities, which will help to create windfalls 

that will improve the fiscal balances, and attract 

foreign capital. Secondly, and more important for 

poverty reduction, Mauritania may be successful 

in establishing a closer link between the enclave 

mineral sector and the rest of the economy. This 

will help to accelerate growth and development. 

Table 7 shows a higher growth scenario based on 

a simple economic model, where both factors 

come into play. 

IV. PAST AND CURRENT INTERVENTIONS OF 

IDB GROUP AND INVOLVEMENT OF 

OTHER DONORS 

1. IDB Group Portfolio in Mauritania 

40. IDB Group total financing approval for 

Mauritania has reached US$ 672.6 million. Total 

cumulative approvals of IDB project finance and 


TABLE 7: High Growth Scenario 

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 

GDP Growth 4.6% 5.9% 6.2% 8.6% 7.1% 5.9% 

technical assistance operation for Mauritania since 

inception now exceeds ID 337.57 (approximately 

US$ 481.23 million). Since Mauritania joined the 

IDB as a founding member in 1974, the Group has 

approved 90 operations and 6 special assistance 

projects. The industry and mining sector has 

received the largest share of financing, around 

25% of total approvals by value while transport and 

communications, and agriculture received 20% 

and 19% respectively. Out of the 90 operations, 

57 have been completed, representing about 30% 

of the approved amount, and 33 operations are 

under implementation. 

41. Mauritania has also benefitted from the IDB 

Group’s trade finance operations. The Group has 

approved a cumulative total of US$ 117.5 million 

since the start of the trade-financing program. In 

1429H, ITFC approved one syndicated operation 

for the Government of Mauritania amounting 

US$ 43 million, however the latter was cancelled 

due to the withdrawal of participants. The main 

beneficiary from trade finance operations since 

inception is the Government of Mauritania. 

42. ICIEC has been supporting Mauritanian 

exports & imports since inception of its 

operations. In fact, ICIEC issued 1 credit 

insurance policy to a bank in Mauritania in the 

past for the amount of US$ 10.2 million. It has 

also issued an approval on a financing operation 

involving supply of goods from Mauritania to a 

buyer in Senegal for the amount of US$ 0.283 

million. Approvals issued by the Corporation to 

cover imports made by Mauritanian importers 

amounted to US$ 0.4 million, in addition to the 

amount of US$ 11.5 million in approvals issued to 

cover confirmation of L/Cs issued by Mauritanian 

banks. Regarding investment insurance, ICIEC has 

received an application from an investor from 

Belgium to cover his investment in an agricultural 

project in Mauritania, for the amount of US$ 

14.7 million, while no application was received 

from Mauritanian investors to cover investments 

abroad. In 2008, ITAP prepared and designed 

an Investor’s Guide booklet in favor of the “the 

Commissariat à la Promotion des Investissements” 

(CPI). In addition, ITAP conducted a need 

assessment mission to Mauritania in April 2010 to 

explore ITAP’s possible intervention in supporting 

the Mauritanian investment promotion agency. As 

an outcome of this mission, a technical assistance 

program for CPI is currently under preparation by 

ITAP. 

43. ICD has also been active in supporting the 

private sector in Mauritania. Up to date, ICD has 

approved four operations for a cumulative amount 

of US$ 56 million. Recently, a memorandum of 

understanding was signed between ICD and the 

GoM for the participation in the development 

of economic zones for attracting foreign direct 

investments. Two new operations are under study 

by ICD. 

2. Lessons Learned from Evaluation of Past 

IDB Group Interventions in Mauritania 

44. In general, the main lessons from 

implementation of IDB projects in Mauritania 

relate to: (i) weak capacity of Executing Agencies 

slow project implementation, (ii) delays in the 

signing and fulfillment of effectiveness conditions 

of financing agreements, (iii) delays in the 

procurement process; (iv) insufficient knowledge 

of IDB procedures. 


45. The project formulation should take into 

consideration the establishment of enhanced 

PIUs, for overcoming the technical/financial 

weaknesses of some executing agencies. While 

IDB’s experience in dealing with the different 

executing agencies was considered as satisfactory 

overall, the institutional capacity of some of them 

needs to be strengthened to enable them to 

perform close supervision and follow-up of their 

respective projects. 

46. To improve development outcomes, more 

importance should be given by IDB to quality 

at entry especially readiness of the projects 

for implementation. More emphasis should 

14 

TABLE 8: Other Donors Involvement in Mauritania 

Donors Priority Areas 

World Bank - Economic governance and public sector 

capacity 

- Diversifying growth 

- Fighting poverty and inequalities 

AfDB - Economic and financial governance 

- Agriculture and agro-industries 

- Transport 

- Water supply and sanitation 

- Education 

AFD (French Development 

Agency) 

- Access to basic services and developing and 

protecting rural areas 

- Sustainable management of fisheries resources 

- Supporting productive sectors 

European Commission - Water facilities 

- Energy 

- Food Security 

- Human rights, justice and security 

- Fisheries 

- Support to SNIM 

The Government of Libya - Health (the construction of 10 health centres is 

under study + Hospital in Rosso) 

- Education (construction of a university in Kiffa) 

- Tourism 

- Telecommunications 

Arab Funds 

- The Kuwait Fund for 

Development 

- The Saudi Fund for 


- The Arab Fund for 

Economic and Social 


- Education 

- Water 

- Technical Assistance 

- Infrastructure 

be placed during appraisal and negotiation of 

relevant memoranda of understanding (MOUs) 

to clearly define all modalities of project 

implementation, operation and maintenance. The 

beneficiary population should also be involved at 

early stages of the projects to facilitate ownership 

and sustainability of the facilities, especially for 

the irrigation and health sector projects. 

47. To enhance the development of the private 

sector through lines of financing, project design 

needs to address more effectively the issue of 

foreign exchange risk. This is a critical path for 

future IDB’s interventions given the potential in 

terms of trade financing and investment. 

Pledged Amounts 

PRSP II PRSP III 

US$ 388 Million 

(pledged during 

the 2007 

Consultative 

Meeting) 

Euro 156 

Million (pledged 

during the 2007 

Consultative 

Meeting) 

US$ 500 

Million 

US$ 100 

Million 

US$ 100 

Million 

US$ 500 

Million 


3. Other Donors Involvement in Mauritania 

48. Following the return to constitutional rule 

in Mauritania in 2009, the donor community 

has re-affirmed its commitment and support 

for the on-going development program (PRSP 

II 2006-2010) and its planned extension (PRSP 

III 2011-2015). The donor meeting in Brussels in 

June 22-23, 2010 re-confirmed this sentiment. 

The involvement of the main donors in support of 

PRSP II (ongoing) and PRSP III is outlined in Table 

8 in terms of main priority areas and amounts 

pledged or committed. 

V. ELEMENTS OF IDB GROUP PARTNERSHIP 

STRATEGY 

1. Strategic Framework for the Mauritania 

MCPS 

49. The main MCPS mission, following a field 

visit to a rural area near the town of Rosso, 

and extensive consultation with development 

partners raised the following important 

questions: 

• Why is the economy stuck in a trap with twothirds 

of the population living in poverty after 

50 years of receiving high and sustained rents 

from natural resource extraction? 

• Why was there a complete failure of the last 

PRSP action plan? 

• Why rice production in irrigated areas is 

apparently uneconomic despite immense 

and dedicated effort by the Government and 

donors spread over a dozen years? 

• Why is there an absence of investment in 

manufacturing despite a clearly talented 

entrepreneurial class limited to the provision 

of services? 

• Why is there an absence of a linkage between 

the high tech capital-intensive investments in 

deep-sea fisheries, iron ore, copper, oil and 

gold extraction and the rest of the traditional 

economy -- the normal route for capacity 

and skill development in most developing 

countries? 

• Why are we having serious implementation 

problems with our projects? 

50. It was clear that our earlier framework 

relying largely on the small size of the economy, 

external shocks, and political instability–factors 

common to many LDMCs less endowed with 

resources than Mauritania and arguably doing 

better -- could not provide satisfactory answers 

to these questions. 

51. As a result, the mission decided to shift to 

the use of a new strategic framework, which 

depends on structural factors to provide a more 

credible insight to many of the above questions. 

This revised framework, outlined above in Section 

II, depends on the use of a unique “dual economy” 

economic structure in which a subsistence 

economy co-exists not with a modern economy 

(the norm in most of our member countries) but 

a natural resource based enclave economy and 

with which it has limited linkages. Further, dollar 

rents from the enclave economy undermine 

the viability of investments in the subsistence 

economy through exchange rate appreciation -- 

the well-known “Dutch disease” effect. Clearly, 

other factors contribute to the problems facing 

Mauritania such as political instability, the small 

size of the economy and the century’s told 

tradition of herding and coastal fishing rather 

than agriculture. However, on their own these 

factors cannot adequately explain the current 

reality in Mauritania. 

52. Consistent with the above-mentioned 

structural constraints, this MCPS is based on 

three pillars and one crosscutting theme, to 

focus on the need to better manage economic 

rents from natural resource extraction and 

by adding-value to extracted resources and 

strengthening the links between the enclave and 

the subsistence economies. These pillars are (i) 

human development, with a focus on health; (ii) 

rural development and food security; and (iii) 

enhancing and diversifying the modern economy, 

while the cross-cutting theme focus on capacity 

building which affects all sectors in Mauritania 

supported by a financing envelope of about 

US$ 700 million provided by the IDB Group. The 

pillars of IDB Group support and are fully aligned 

with Mauritania’s strategic pillars in PRSP and 

anchored in the Vision 1440H aspiration of helping 


transform the human development landscape of 

the Muslim world and restoring its dignity. 

53. The MCPS process of extensive consultations 

between IDB Group staff, the GoM, domestic 

stakeholders, and development partners 

underpins the proposed partnership strategy. 

These consultations have not only resulted in the 

diagnosis of the key structural constraints facing 

the economy but also an understanding on the 

areas of IDB Group intervention in the medium 

term, taking into account IDB Group’s mandate 

and comparative advantage and the roles of 

the other development partners. The MCPS 

framework also provides for a Results Matrix that 

should help the GoM and IDB Group staff monitor 

progress in the implementation of the MCPS 

across the range of interventions. 

2. Pillar I: Enhancing Human Development 

Through Health 

2.1 Current Situation 

54. Human Development is central to 

Mauritania’s long-term future. As reflected 

in its poor rank (154 out of 182) in the multidimensional 

Human Development Index in 

2009, Mauritania faces challenges in many areas 

including education, lack of skills, health and 

malnutrition arising from poverty. The IDB Group 

will focus its efforts over 2011-2015 to help 

address the constraints Mauritania faces in three 

dimensions where the challenges are most acute 

— health (under this pillar), malnutrition through 

reduction in poverty and improvement in food 

security (under the second pillar) and capacity 

building as a cross sector theme. 

55. An increase in the allocation of funds to 

the health sector in Mauritania from about 

0.6% of GDP in 2000 to 3.8% in 2010, has led to 

improvement in access to health facilities but 

it is still insufficient to provide a basic level of 

essential services. The increases in resources 

have helped but are still below the level of US$13 

per capita, considered universally as the minimum 

level of expenditure necessary to ensure a basic 

level of essential services. 

56. The increased resources have helped to 

improve access to health services in urban and 

16 

rural areas but regional disparities remain. 

In urban areas, about 97% percent of urban 

population now lives within five kilometers of 

primary health services. The situation in rural 

areas has improved but on average only 45% 

of the population has access to primary health 

service within five kilometers. The rural average 

masks much more differences in access between 

urban and poor rural areas. 

57. In addition, the donor community has been 

providing substantial support to help Mauritania 

fight communicable diseases including HIV/ 

AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the country 

has made progress in this area. Because of these 

efforts, it appears that MDG 6, related to these 

diseases, may be achievable. 

58. However, child and maternal mortality 

remain at alarming levels (figures 11 – 12) due 

to widely perceived malfunctions of the health 

system and the associated lack of effective sector 

wide policy. 


• The current rate of progress of 8.5% during the 

past decade will be insufficent for Mauritania 

to reach the MDG target for the under-five 

mortality rate (from 135 per 1000 live births 

in 2000 to around 122 per thousand in 2007, 

while the MDG target is 45 set for 2015). There 

are also deep inequalities in mortality. The 

gaps are 13 points between rural and urban 

areas, 84.3 between Dakhlet Nouadhibou and 

Guidimagha; 57 between the richest and the 

poorest and 49 points depending on the level 

of education of the mother. 

• Similarly, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) 

remains among the highest in the region it 

is unlikely that Mauritania will achieve the 

related MDG target 4. Currently, at 686 per 

100,000 live births in 2007, decreasing from 

930 in 1990 and 747 in 2000, Mauritania is still 

far from the target of 232 set for 2015 (MICS). 

59. The coverage rate of the Expanded Program 

on Immunization (EPI) has been falling for the 

past three years and now stands at 76% for 

children below five years of age, well below the 

85% coverage rate considered by the WHO as 

necessary to protect the population. 

60. The high CMR is largely due to respiratory 

infections and delivery conditions, and living 

conditions. Precarious living conditions inherent 

in poor and rural areas also play a role (housing, 

access to potable water, sanitation etc). 

Malnutrition is also factor in child mortality, along 

with lack of knowledge of proper childcare in new 

mothers. 

61. Along with the lack of proper health facilities 

and equipment, the high MMR is largely due to 

the high proportion of premature and frequent 

pregnancies, low access of pregnant women to 

quality antenatal care and emergency obstetric 

services. Cultural aspects contribute to both of 

these factors 

62. While the proportion of births attended by 

skilled personnel increased from 57% in 2001 to 

61% in 2007, the remaining 39% were assisted 

by an unqualified person, a relative or without 

any type of assistance whatsoever. 

2.2 Main Constraints 

63. The main constraints to improving the 

alarming situation of child and maternal 

mortality are closely related to malfunctions 

that characterize the entire health system in 

Mauritania. 

Limitations of health services 

• Inadequate funding and institutional capacity: 

Absence of a clear and coherent policy and a 

national health sector plan, coupled with both 

underfunding — a paltry US$13 per capita — 

and understaffing of the Ministry of Health 

(MOH) hinder efficient stewardship role for 

the implementation of the Health Sector 

Development Plan. Also, program execution 

in the sector is slowed down by the rapid 

turnover of staff holding key positions and 

by weaknesses in financial management and 

procurement. 

• Poor quality of the health management 

information system (HMIS/ and lack of 

coordination between MOHSA and SECF, 

which shares the mandate for malnutrition 

prevention and reduction, has been 

problematic over the past years. 

• Shortages of qualified and motivated health 

and social workers along with imbalances 

in the skill-mix and uneven geographical 

deployment remain among the key factors 

affecting the quality and utilization of services. 

According to the MOH, 90% of trained 

midwifes currently live in Nouakchoutt. 

• Inadequate drug quality and supply: Drug 

shortages continue to persist in health facilities 

and the capacity of the drug procurement 

and distribution system needs further 

strengthening. 

Weak Social Health Determinants 

• Inadequate quality control over all 

components of the Health Sector (SOPs, drugs 

and health commodities, equipment, training, 

HMIS etc) is a prevalent feature. 

• Low literacy rates especially among women 

in the rural areas compounded with deeply 


18 

rooted harmful traditional practices (e.g. 

female genital mutilation, food taboos etc) 

negatively affect the health-seeking behavior 

and ultimately, accessibility to health services. 

• Chronic malnutrition rates have stagnated 

and remain a serious problem in rural areas 

among the poorest and the very young (0-3 

years) who are the most vulnerable. 

2.3 Government’s Strategy for the Health 

Sector 

64. The PRSP-III identifies the development and 

implementation of a clear and coherent policy 

as one of the top priorities of the health sector 

for the next five years. The sector strategies and 

poverty reduction plans highlighted the need to 

increasing funding to address healthcare access 

and quality, human resource needs, awareness 

and monitoring and evaluation. 

65. The forthcoming CSLP-III (2010-2015), 

envisages developing a strategy whose objectives 

focus on four strategic areas: (1) improving 

universal access to health services and quality 

nutrition, (2) strengthening of the fight against the 

disease (3) developing mechanisms for financing 

health and (4) leadership development, good 

governance and sector performance. This strategy 

will enable to (i) reduce the overall mortality 

and morbidity, particularly IMR and MMR (ii) 

reduce the total fertility rate; and (iii) mitigate the 

impact of epidemics including endemic HIV/AIDS 

and emerging diseases (iv) reduce hunger and 

malnutrition in the population, especially among 

vulnerable groups (v) strengthen community 

participation in development and management 

strategies for access to basic health services, and 

(vi) enhance coordination and planning within 

and across sectors. 

66. Donors and specialized agencies remain 

skeptical about the Government’s commitment 

to implement the strategy in terms of the level, 

equity and allocative efficiency of spending. 

Inadequacy of financial support to the WHO for 

preparing a health sector policy is worrying in 

this regard. Also available PRSP III documents do 

not specify the amounts of future funding to the 

health sector. 

2.4 Proposed Interventions (with Donors) to 

Help Government Meet its Goals 

67. Scaling up of direct IDB Group support 

for primary health care, and a partnership 

with donors on health initiatives, are the two 

elements for IDB Group support to enhance 

access to quality health services and ultimately, 

impacting the high IMR and MMR in Mauritania 

though a financing envelope of US$150 million. 

Building partnership, and synergy with donors 

68. Support to the initiative for preparation of 

a national health sector policy and the proposed 

five-year plan currently under preparation by 

the WHO. In addition: 

(i) Support the Expanded Immunization Program 

to redress shortcomings in the coverage rates 

with a direct impact on the infant mortality 

rate in cooperation with UNICEF and GAVI; 

(ii) Adopt and expand the successful AFD user’s 

fees initiative to enhance access to quality 

health services for pre- and post-natal care in 

priority remote areas. 

Scale up of the direct IDB Group support for 

Health 

69. Support for the extension of the Primary 

Health Care (PHC) and secondary health care 

services in the high poverty areas would enhance 

access to quality services by investing in training 

and retaining of basic health staff and community 

volunteers (e.g. midwifes, nurses, community 

promoter etc), procurement of equipment, other 

essential health commodities and construction of 

PHC facilities. 

2.5 Suggestions and Recommendations for the 

Government 

70. The situation in Mauritania shows that 

the implementation of interventions under 

the human development pillar requires policy 

and institutional reforms. In this regard, the 

government strategy should be strengthened 

through the following actions: 

• Preparing and implementing at the earliest 

opportunity a health system development 


strategy giving priority to strengthening 

primary care provision especially in rural areas. 

• Substantially raising allocation in the budget 

for health system interventions with increased 

resources devoted to disease prevention 

and control program and the training of 

primary health staff (nurses, midwifes and 

general practitioners) and community health 

promoters. 

• Increase the deployment and retention of 

the trained health staff for remote and needy 

areas to augment the efforts of partners to 

expedite interventions addressing the high 

IMR and MMR. 

3. PILLAR II: Rural Development and Food 

Security 

3.1 Current Status 

71. Agriculture has not been performing well 

in Mauritania. On average, the contribution of 

agriculture to GDP was 16.7% during the 1991- 

2008 period with crops (agriculture sensu stricto) 

representing 3.7% and livestock 13%. In absolute 

terms, agriculture production has not been 

declining but stagnating. Stagnation had many 

causes. In rain fed areas where rainfall is low and 

erratic, water harvesting and soil conservation 

techniques to improve production exist but not 

adopted on a large scale. There has been little or 

inadequate effort to support rain fed agriculture 

and livestock despite its importance in rural 

economy. 

72. Food security is a major concern. Cereal 

production in Mauritania supplies only one 

third of the population’s needs. Commercial 

imports and food aid (mainly wheat and rice) 

supply the balance. In recent years, the level of 

food supply has been low, particularly in remote 

areas, and prices of traditional cereals (millet and 

sorghum in particular) in the production areas 

have increased especially in the wake of 2008 

global food crisis. Adverse climatic conditions 

also caused a decrease in crop production adding 

to food insecurity affecting almost one third of 

the total population, particularly the rural poor. 

Malnutrition in rural areas is rampant and the 

most susceptible group includes infants, and 

pregnant women. The Government has acted to 

in coordination with its development partners 

to deal with food crises. However, the second 

Strategic Framework for the Fight against Poverty 

(PRSP II) for 2006-2010 and various instruments 

of the Special Intervention Program created to 

address food insecurity had limited impact and 

food production continued to stagnate. 

3.2. Constraints 

73. There are several constraints faced by 

agriculture in Mauritania: 

• Annual area under cultivation did not increase 

and yields remain low by international 

standards. 

• In rain fed areas where rainfall is low and 

erratic, water harvesting and soil conservation 

techniques to improve production exist but not 

adopted on a large scale. There has been little 

or inadequate support for rain fed agriculture 

and livestock despite its importance in rural 

economy. 

• In irrigated areas, agriculture is performing 

poorly despite the significant investments 

made over the past 30 years. This is due to 

a combination of factors--natural disasters 

(floods, locust, etc.), institutional failures 

(mismanagement, credit and land tenure 

issues), and a weak investment climate 

(inadequate infrastructure, volatility in 

international prices of cereals, overvaluation 

of the exchange rate). Local officials in 

Rosso informed the MCPS mission that 

abandonment of irrigated land by farmers is a 

serious problem and farmers that met with the 

mission indicated that Government subsidies 

were essential for them to survive. This has all 

contributed to the inability of increases in the 

size of irrigated areas under new schemes to 

compensate for areas put out of cultivation. In 

2009, only 8,000ha were cultivated compared 

to an average of 17.000 ha planted annually in 

last ten years. 

• With its important livestock population (11 

million of sheep, goats, cattle and camels), 

Mauritania is self sufficient in red meat and 

exports a substantial volume (estimated at 


20 

75,000 t/year) of live animals to neighboring 

countries. The local market lacks basic 

infrastructure (transportation, slaughtering 

houses, cold chains and sanitary controls). 

Exports suffer from the same problems, which 

explain the sale of live animals, depriving 

the country of a substantial value-added. 

Similarly, there is no infrastructure for the 

modern treatment of animal skin. Inefficient 

traditional techniques produce poor quality 

hides sold at low prices to the export market 

as a raw material. There is no leather industry 

in Mauritania. In 2008, the volume of hides 

exported was 383.1 tons for the modest value 

of $ 177,000 representing an average price of 

US$ 412/ton (source: ONS). 

• Mauritania produces about 30% of its milk 

consumption, two thirds of which are selfconsumed 

and only one third is sold on the 

local market. The absence of a well-developed 

supply chain with sufficient capacity for milk 

collection, cold storage and transportation 

limits the access of local milk to the market 

and renders the local milk unable to compete 

with the imported –and often subsidized- milk. 

In 2008, Mauritania imported about US$77 

million of milk and dairy products (source: 

ONS). 

74. The weak management and human resource 

endowment in public institutions has added 

to these problems and led donors to support 

creation of independent Project Implementation 

Units (PIUs) that further weakened these 

institutions. 

3.3 Opportunities 

75. Agriculture can help to reduce poverty and 

enhance food security if the Government moves 

to address the above constraints. In fact, despite 

its very limited arable land area (0.5%), the 

agricultural potential of Mauritania is sufficient 

to provide the country with a reasonable level of 

food security and help reduce poverty, which lies 

mostly in rural areas. 

76. The potential for irrigated agriculture 

(137,000 ha) is largely sufficient to meet all the 

country needs for rice and a significant part of its 

vegetables and other diversification crops needs 

if yields are improved. It could also provide fodder 

for intensive dairy farming. Current average yield 

for paddy in Mauritania is 4.24 tons/ha with 

several farmers achieving 6 tons/ha and, for few 

of them, even 8 tons/ha. Local climate allows for 

a second crop but very few practice it. 

77. The potential in rain fed agriculture, despite 

the harsh climate and the irregularity of rainfall, 

can be better valued if the limited water and soil 

resources are well exploited and managed in a 

sustainable way. This would improve the food 

security of poor rural populations and uplift their 

economic conditions. 

78. Livestock also has a significant potential for 

improvement: it can not only satisfy a significant 

portion of domestic milk demand but also 

supply red meat for the entire domestic market 

and export to neighboring countries. Livestock 

byproducts (hides) can also be processed locally 

using modern techniques and bring additional 

value added. 

79. Inland fishing, currently practiced at small 

a scale by local communities along the Senegal 

river and its tributaries as well as in water 

reservoirs such as Foum Gleita in the Gorgol, is 

done in a very traditional and inefficient way 

and it receives little attention from the fisheries 

department. The effective development of 

inland fisheries and aquaculture can supply rural 

communities with a valuable local source of animal 

protein and generate additional employment and 

income. 

3.4 Government Strategy 

80. A Rural Sector Development Strategy of 

(RSDS) was elaborated in 1998, updated in 2001 

and revisited in 2006 to ensure its harmony with 

the orientations of PRSP I and PRSP II. The RSDS 

identified four strategic objectives: (i) promote the 

growth of the sector to ensure food security for 

the country; (ii) ensure equitable access to sector 

resources; (iii) increase the supply and availability 

of goods and public services required for the 

sustainable development of the sector and (iv) 

developing management capacity for promoting 


Integrated Rural Development programs, 

involving community participation. This strategy 

was to be implemented through a set of policies 

and in a coordinated and decentralized manner: 

(i) promotion of the main agricultural value chains 

wedged on the macroeconomic framework and 

targeting quality products and Diversification; 

(ii) development of rural infrastructure, (iii) 

institutional strengthening and organization of 

the sector, and (iv) policies to protect natural 

resources. 

81. For the livestock sector, the main objectives 

of the Government inscribed in the 2009 Policy 

Letter are: (i) to increase the sector’s growth in a 

sustainable manner and with redistribution, and 

(ii) to reduce vulnerability of households living 

from livestock, in accordance with the guidelines 

of the PRSP. 

82. The Action Plan for the PRSP III (2011-2015) 

proposes an investment program for the rural 

sector covers that would cost UM 155billion, 

equivalent to approximately USD 584 million, 

in combination with a strong emphasis on the 

role of the private sector. This program aims at 

improving productivity and incomes in the sector 

and is concentrated in the regions where the 

poorest populations live. 

83. IDB Group and all other donors fully 

agree and support the above government 

strategies, which have been consistent for 

the last 15 years. The problem Mauritania 

faces is the government inability to fully and 

truly carry out the implementation of these 

strategies and to take all the measures that 

are recommended. High turnover of decision 

makers and senior government agencies staff 

and general mismanagement have been the main 

impediments. There are also questions about 

the continuing need to subsidize agriculture in 

irrigated areas. 

3.5 Proposed IDB Group Interventions 

84. Agriculture and rural development requires 

a multi sector and integrated approach. 

Government support to agriculture alone has 

shown its limits especially in irrigated areas. 

Given the lessons learned from the past showing 

lack of impact of major government interventions, 

including subsidies, there should be an early end 

to subsidies and to Government interventions in 

irrigated agriculture except where justified on an 

exceptional basis and the private sector should 

be encouraged to take a lead role 7 . Instead, 

the focus of government interventions should 

now be on rain fed agriculture to enhance food 

security and reduce poverty. With this view, the 

Government should encourage a supply chain 

approach (approche filière) to address food 

security involving all partners from input supply 

to production, processing and market. Production 

alone will not guaranty food security and will 

not alleviate poverty. All steps in the supply 

chain are important and necessary. Agriculture 

development remains the top activity for the food 

insecure rural communities. IDB Group promotes 

such approach in the following areas and intends 

to provide financing of about $250 million to 

promote the following activities. 

(a) In the irrigated areas, IDB would support the 

consolidation of rice production system, crop 

diversification and intensive dairy farming. 

This will be done by improving or rehabilitating 

existing irrigated schemes rather than creating 

new ones (improving land leveling, irrigation 

and drainage and introducing electrification), 

securing land tenure and credit, training 

farmers and technicians, supporting the 

creation and/or maintenance of access road 

and transport infrastructure, developing 

processing units and securing markets. Priority 

products are rice, new crops (diversification) 

for local and export markets, and milk. Inland 

fishing will be part of the integrated approach 

to be adopted. 

(b) In the rain fed areas, IDB would support 

integrated rural development approach 

7 The IDB Group plans to play an important role in promoting the role of the 

private sector in irrigated agriculture in Mauritania. It will do so both through 

ICD and in its interactions with the Coordination Group, to support new models 

for Arab-African investment that can benefit from the synergy with Member 

Countries that have surplus cash and consumer markets with those that have 

the knowledge and know-how (for example, Egypt, Morocco etc.) At the same 

time, to facilitate public-private partnerships in agricultural investments, 

the Bank will be working closely with the Government of Mauritania to help 

resolve the constraints noted above in Section V.3.2 that irrigated agriculture 

has faced in the past decade, and continues to face. 


22 

focused on watershed development. 

Communities located in food insecure areas will 

be selected on a watershed basis. Community 

Development Plans will be elaborated and 

executed by the communities with the 

assistance of public, private or NGO partners. 

Activities to be supported include water 

harvesting, soil conservation and protection, 

agriculture and livestock production, inland 

fishing, local capacity building, rural access 

road and other socioeconomic infrastructure. 

(c) IDB Group programs for rural development 

will aim to include road infrastructure to 

enhance market access to local communities. 

The contribution of the IDB to infrastructure 

development is already facilitating regional 

integration projects (connections Nouakchott- 

Nouadhibou to Morocco, and corridors to Mali 

involving participation to financing: Timbédra- 

Nema and Ayoun el Atrous –Nioro roads). 

Moreover, access to far-flung isolated areas 

is being supported by the creation of a new 

north-south corridor via Atar-Tidjikja-Kifa, 

which in addition to its regional counterpart, 

has eased access to the country’s interior 

areas. 

(d) In the pastoral areas, IDB support to livestock 

would be at two levels: (i) as part of the 

integrated approach recommended for 

the irrigated and rain fed areas and (ii) at 

national level to deal with the larger animal 

population practicing transhumance. For the 

latter, IDB support would consider supporting 

the national animal health program and to 

the development of the milk, red meat and 

hide industries through the Private Sector 

Development window. This would be done in 

coordination with Pillar 3. 

(e) IDB support to inland fisheries will be 

included in the projects for irrigated and 

rain fed areas outlined above. For inland 

fisheries, IDB considers that it should be 

part of the Rural Development and Food 

Security pillar as it is mainly carried out 

on a small scale, on small bodies of water 

in rural communities and mainly for local 

consumption and markets. 

(f) It is proposed that ITFC participates in the 

financing of imports of food and agriculture 

inputs under Sovereign Risk. Alongside with 

foodstuff imports, ITFC can play strategic 

role in supporting the development of local 

agriculture production, through the financing 

of seeds, fertilizers and other agriculture 

products. Discussions with SONIMEX showed 

that this could be a potential cooperation area 

starting 2011 forwards. 

(g) ICIEC could provide political risk insurance 

to foreign investors willing to invest in the 

agriculture sector in Mauritania. In addition, 

ICIEC may support the agriculture sector in 

Mauritania by providing credit insurance to 

exporters, covering the non-payment risk of 

their overseas buyers. Exports of fisheries, 

livestock and other agricultural products could 

be considered in this regard. 

(h) The IDB Group should play a significant role 

in the realization of cross-border initiatives 

between Mauritania and its neighbor 

countries which are all member countries. 

In this regard, the recent initiative launched 

between Mauritania and Mali to enhance 

economic development in the city of Gougui 

(Mauritania) and the city of Nouara (Mali) could 

be supported by the IDB Group interventions 

in these cities. It is worth noting that these two 

cities are connected by the regional rural road 

financed by the IDB and linking Ayoun Latrous 

(Mauritania) and Nioro (Mali). Mauritania can 

also play a major role in providing expertise 

in bilingual education to benefit Mali and 

Senegal, under the cross-border initiative, as 

well as to other IDB member countries in West 

Africa under reverse linkage (see below). 


Government 

85. In order to successfully implement the 

activities under this pillar, it is critical that the 

government of Mauritania should carry out the 

following policy actions: 

• Update the rural development strategy. 

• Design, adopt and start implementing a 

capacity building strategy for the rural 


Figure 13: Survey of Constraints Facing the Business Environment in Mauritania 

60.0 

50.0 

51.2 

43.5 

40.0 

30.0 

20.0 

10.0 

34.3 

0.0 

Access and 

cost of financing 

Electricity Practices of 

competitors 

in the informal 

sector 

Manufacturing 

33.8 

Customs and 

trade 

regulations 

33.7 

Inadequately 

educated work 

force 

Other sectors 

45.0 

40.0 

35.0 

39.3 38.3 37.9 

30.0 

25.0 

20.0 

15.0 

10.0 

5.0 

27.6 26.9 

0.0 

Practices of Access and Tax rates 

competitors cost of financing 


sector 

Access to 

land 

Tax 

regulations 

31.7 

Tax rates 

development institutions and their staff 

(capacity in project planning, implementation, 

monitoring and evaluation, knowledge of IDB 

procedures, procurement procedures, etc.). 

• Set up a sound monitoring and evaluation 

system for programs and projects and a 

projects supervision unit in the ministry of 

rural development. 

• Set up an early warning system for natural 

disasters. 

4. PILLAR III: Enhancing and Diversifying 

the Foundations of a Modern Economy 

4.1 Private Sector Development/Islamic 

Finance 

Current situation 

86. As noted above, private sector activities in 

Mauritania are at a nascent stage and dominated 

by the informal business and small and medium 

enterprises 8 . As discussed in Section II, Mauritania 

is facing a serious development challenge in that 

the linkage between the subsistence economy 

and the modern economy typical of a country at 

8 The transition to a formal economy also faces challenges as 80 % of 

commercial transactions are made in cash, as noted in the Ernest & Young, 

Financial feasibility study of establishing an Islamic Bank in Mauritania. 

50.0 

45.0 

40.0 

35.0 

30.0 

25.0 

20.0 

15.0 

10.0 

5.0 

44.8 

36.6 

0.0 

Access and 

cost of financing 

Tax rates 

Microentreprises/Informal Firms 

23.8 

50.0 

45.0 

40.0 

35.0 

30.0 

25.0 

20.0 

15.0 

10.0 

5.0 

43.6 

32.3 

23.4 23.4 23.4 

18.6 

Electricity 

0.0 

Access and Access to 

cost of financing land 

Tax rates Practices of 

competitors 


sector 

Transport Electricity 

MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 23 

32.6 

Tax 

regulations 

Trade 

29.0 

Customs and 

trade 

regulations 

18.0 

Practices of 

competitors 


sector 

15.5 

Electricity 

Mauritania’s level of development is missing or is 

at best very weak. A key development challenge 

for Mauritania, moving forward is the question of 

how to strengthen these linkages. The diagnosis 

suggests, from a macroeconomic perspective, 

that the Government should urgently review its 

policies regarding the management and use of 

earnings from exports of natural resources, taking 

account of the lessons of international experience 

in this area. Countries earning high and sustained 

rents from natural resource extraction try to 

alleviate any excessive appreciation of the 

exchange rate by smoothening the use of such 

rents in addition to steps to process and add more 

value to the extracted resources before exporting 

them. This MCPS and this pillar, reflecting the IDB 

Groups comparative advantage, focuses on areas 

where the Group can help Mauritania to diversify 

and enhance its modern economy and strengthen 

its linkages with the subsistence/informal 

economy by encouraging and supporting private 

sector development to facilitate the processing 

and value addition to the resources it is blessed 

with. 

87. Mauritania offers several business 

opportunities:

• A positive medium term economic growth 

output: Real GDP growth reached 11.7% in 

2006 and was about 4% over the period 2006- 

2010. Although growth forecasts for PRSP III 

(5.5%) are below the ambitious targets in PRSP 

II of 8.4% due to lower-than-expected levels 

of oil production, the medium-term outlook 

remains positive as the high growth scenario 

reflects. 

• Increasing Foreign Direct Investments: FDI 

increased significantly during the period of 

2002-2006 going from US$ 67 million in 2002 

to US$ 814 million in 2005 and then to US$ 

155 million in 2006. FDI in Mauritania is largely 

concentrated in the extractive sector. 

• Strategic geographic position: Being at the 

crossroads of two consumer markets, the 

Maghreb and West Africa, Mauritania benefits 

from a strategic position that is favorable 

for the development of trade and exporting 

activities -- and thus the related banking 

activities. Moreover, Mauritanian products 

have preferential treatment on European 

Union markets. 

• Substantial Natural Resources: Despite recent 

skepticism of its oil reserves, Mauritania 

remains promising in terms of natural 

resources. In fact, Mauritania has substantial 

deposits of solid minerals, including iron-ore, 

gypsum, phosphates, salt, copper, gold and 

diamonds and is one of the richest zones in 

fish resources. 

Constraints and opportunities for Private Sector 


88. The most important constraint to the private 

sector, as perceived by firms in manufacturing, 

trade and other sectors is access to and cost of 

finance but they also mention other constraints 

(see Figure 13). An important reason for this is 

that their owners consider banks as an arm for 

their private business activities. Other constraints 

include (i) access to electricity (see Box 2), (ii) 

management capacity and lack of skilled labor, 

(iii) taxes and (iv) regulatory environment 9 . 

9 World Bank CEM, 2010. 

24 

89. The lack of a clear legal framework 

facilitating access to justice is also a major 

impediment to private sector development in 

Mauritania. This shortcoming is obvious in land 

ownership for which there is still no overall record 

keeping system that would help to entrench the 

legal status of land ownership. This tends to 

impede private investments given the fact that 

land ownership, the basis of any investment, 

is uncertain. As a result, promoters involved in 

income generating activities, as well as micro and 

small enterprises (MSEs) are virtually excluded 

from bank financing. 

90. Management and organization problems 

due to lack of funds hamper the work of the 

judiciary. For instance, business and company 

registration does not exist in Mauritania, so it is 

difficult to identify the legal status of firms. 

Government strategy 

Box 2 

ICD Strategy in Mauritania 

ICD’s intervention is based on the assessment that 

Mauritania is positioned in the quadrant B of ICD’s 

member country mapping which include the group 

of member countries where both Islamic finance and 

Private Sector Development are weak or at the initial 

stage of development. ICD strategy will focus on four 

areas: (i) developing new channels for investment (e.g. 

building banks or Ijara companies); (ii) developing 

an enabling environment for Islamic finance/PSD; 

(iii) supporting direct investment/financing in the 

fishery sector; and (iv) preparing a feasibility study 

for the development of a specialized economic zone in 

Nouhadibou. 

91. PRSP III places a high priority to private 

sector development but lacks specifics. As 

mentioned above, in the PRSP-III action plan 

covering the period 2011-2015, the Government 

strategy aims at creating favorable conditions to 

the attainment of sustained and durable growth 

through structural reforms designed to enhance 

the investment climate. These include a focus on 

(a) promotion of growth sources; (b) infrastructure 

development; (b) rural development with a 

special attention focused on rain agriculture 

and livestock; (c) urban development; (d) access 

to finance to support SME development; and 


(e) the conservation of the environment and its 

promotion as an economic asset. These areas are 

important and most reflect necessary conditions 

for private sector development. But there is a 

need for a more specific program to address the 

fundamental structural weaknesses facing the 

economy and which have inhibited development 

of a modern economy with a vibrant private 

sector based manufacturing over the past two 

decades. 

Proposed strategy for interventions to help 

Government meet its goals in consultation with 

other donors 

• Flagship investments in key areas such as 

fisheries, dairy, red meat and hides, 

• Improving the business environment for SMEs 

in particular access to finance, among other 

things through the setting up of an Islamic 

Bank and the establishment of dedicated lines 

of finance for local banks, 

• Offering short term financing to public entities, 

• Construction of affordable housing for lower 

and middle-income people in urban areas, 

• Investment in critical infrastructure—roads, 

ports, and energy, 

• Encouraging firms in natural resource sectors 

to add value to the extracted resources. 

Indicative interventions by IDB Group for 2011- 

2015 

92. In the framework of the strategy of 

intervention of the IDB Group in Mauritania, the 

IDB Group plans to invest in four main axes: 

• SME development & promotion of Islamic 

financing, 

• Development of projects in the real estate and 

fishery sectors, 

• Launching catalyst programs which are 

business enabler to the private entrepreneurs, 

like Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Project 

Development Facility, 

• IDB participation in PPP program to restructure 

SOMELEC including investment in domestic gas 

Box 3 

Status of Power Sector in Mauritania 

• Demand is growing rapidly (10% per year on 

average between 1998 and 2008) 

• There is a large shortage of supply (the shortfall 

in Nouakchott estimated at 30-40 MW) and 

backup generators make up half of total installed 

capacity in Mauritania, high international oil 

prices have put enormous pressure on all of the 

oil-importing countries including Mauritania. 

• The cost of electricity is high due to the 

structure of production (fuel / diesel imported) 

and technical performance (technical and 

commercial losses are nearly 30%). 

• In the urban areas: electrification rate is limited 

to 54% national wise whereas it drops to 40% 

in Nouakchott. Main cities are exclusively 

dependant on a single source--MVS provides 

15% of the hydropower generated in Manantali 

Dam. This constitutes a single interconnected 

network (225/90/3315 KV), all other areas and 

localities are supplied from off-grid separated 

small networks by diesel generators. 

• In rural areas, the electricity is quasi-inexistent; 

the electrification rate does not exceed 5%. The 

viability of providing electricity service based 

on decentralized generators and networks 

leads to a high compensation of the private 

service providers, which aggravates the financial 

burden of the government. The penetration 

rate of renewable is insignificant due to the 

high investment and weak willingness to pay 

from the rural population due to lack of revenue 

generating activities. 

• The principal supplier and network operator 

(SOMELEC) is in a quasi-business failure situation 

due to: 

- unresolved investment issues related a failed 

privatization in 2004 

- high transmission and commercial losses 

estimated at 31.5%; and 

- internal inefficiency--number of clients/ 

employee is 104, half the international 

standard. 

• Despite its problems the government is strongly 

supporting SOMELEC and the Government 

signed a performance-based agreement along 

with a restructuring program, 


26 

based thermal and solar energy capacity, and 

improving transmission networks including 

Nouakchott-Nouadhibou connection. 

93. ICIEC is ready to support the inflow of 

foreign direct investments into Mauritania by 

insuring investments made by foreign investors 

against certain political risks in Mauritania. 

Some foreign investors would require such risks 

to be covered in order to make their investments 

4.2 Trade Finance and Insurance 

Trade composition in Mauritania 

94. Mauritania’s share of regional trade is still 

very small, the EU remains its main trading 

partner, and its trade with China is rising rapidly. 

Mauritanian exports get preferential treatment in 

the EU market and under the Everything-But-Arms 

(EBA) program for least developed countries. The 

majority of Mauritania’s imports come from the 

EU, with France being the single largest source 

worldwide. Its trade with China is rising--exports 

to China rose from only US$9 Million in 2002 

to US$365 Million in 2006. Since the start of oil 

production, China has become the country’s main 

destination for exports, accounting for a startling 

67.3% in 2006, up from just 0.7% in 2005. 

Constraints to trade finance 

• The financial sector is under-developed. 

About 88% of the sector’s assets are held by 

commercial banks with 8 commercial banks, 7 

insurance companies, 2 financial institutions 

specialized in agriculture and fisheries, 67 

approved micro-finance institutions, as well 

as a leasing firm. There lack of diversification 

of the products and services offered and 

the commercial banks’ transactions mainly 

concern operators of the import – export 

sector, and are essentially based on shortterm 

financing. 

• The private sector is not structured, consisting 

of small companies. This makes it difficult to 

deal directly with these entities. 

• Banks are often playing a trader role and they 

import for themselves all commodities in need 

in the market. 

• Mark up of local banks is very high. Around 

13% p.a for known companies and more than 

17% p.a for new clients. 

Elements of IDB Group Intervention in Trade 

Finance & Insurance 

95. The interviews conducted with SONIMEX 

(National company for imports and exports), 

the ministry of agriculture, and Mauritania 

Patronat, emphasized on the urgent need to 

supply the imports of basic commodities such 

Sugar, Oil, Rice, and similar. The Government 

aim to stabilize the prices is confronted with the 

growing appetite of private companies, taking 

advantage from shortage periods to increase 

the prices. SONIMEX is the government arm 

towards ensuring an adequate Market supply, 

which is seen as the most efficient way to 

counter speculating for such crucial commodities. 

Financing SONIMEX foodstuff imports, and other 

critical inputs for the development of Agriculture 

capacity, is in direct link with MCPS Pillar 1 and 

should offer the following advantages if provided 

under Government guarantee: 

1. The financial agility for country food security. 

2. The ability to secure prices stability against 

speculation. 

3. The ability to build on the existing capacity 

and extend the supply to other strategic 

commodities such seeds, fertilizers, which 

are critical for Mauritania food security and 

agriculture development. 

96. ITFC can play important role in financing 

public companies needs of Energy, mainly Gas 

and Fuel under sovereign risk. The preliminary 

discussions with SOMELEC and SOMAGAS GMS as 

well as the Ministry of Energy and Petrol showed 

that ITFC financing could offer better terms and 

conditions. 

1. The confirmation fee is included in ITFC Mark 

up (about 2% saving). 

2. ITFC Financing provides a financial advantage 

as currently, these companies are under a 

differed payment credit from their Gas and 

Fuel supplier. 


3. The flexibility to finance other entrants with 

the same facility. 

97. ITFC intends to support the important 

SMEs sector by extending lines of finance or 

two step Murabaha financing to local banks, 

so their clients can benefit directly from it. 

Preliminary discussions have started with Banque 

Mauritanienne du Commerce International 

(BMCI) which has sent an official financing 

request. 

98. ICIEC could potentially insure the 

nonpayment risk of Letters of Credit to be issued 

by Mauritanian banks to finance imports of goods 

and services from ICIEC’s member countries. 

In addition, ICIEC could insure Letters of Credit 

financing the imports of capital or strategic goods 

from non member countries. 

99. ICIEC may also insure foreign contractors 

executing projects in Mauritania in strategic 

sectors (like infrastructure, health, education, 

etc.) in favor of the government or governmentowned 

entities, against the nonpayment risk if the 

payment is made or guaranteed by the Ministry 

of Finance of Mauritania. 


Government 

100. In order to insure successful implementation 

of activities under this pillar, the government 

should prepare the ground for the development 

of a vibrant private sector. Among others, the 

following actions, should constitute a priority for 

the GoM: 

• Strengthen the investment climate by 

improving the policy regarding the registration 

of land ownership. 

• Develop a regulatory framework to reform 

and strengthen the financial sector. 

• Setting up the legal framework for PPP and 

building capacity to oversee the management 

of PPP. 

• Remove barriers to entry for new investments 

especially in areas where investment 

opportunities are promising (including further 

processing of iron ore before exporting it). 

• Identify and implement measures to speed-up 

investment inflow to the energy sector, both 

for generation and transport/distribution. 

5. Cross-Cutting Theme: Capacity Building 10 

5.1 Current Situation and Constraints 

101. The Mauritanian Administration and Civil 

Service in general suffer from weak capacity in 

terms of limited staff and cadre, aging executives 

coinciding with important retirements, frozen 

recruitments, inadequacy of skills with required 

profiles. Likewise, the private sector and large 

firms face a shortage of adequate skills and low 

productivity. The largest firms in the country 

report skills mismatch to be the primary obstacle 

for productivity and growth 11 . 

102. Only half of the ministries recently 

surveyed report a unit headed by a specialist 

of Monitoring-Evaluation, while evaluation is a 

permanent activity in 34% for policy and 66% 

for projects and programmes. Almost half of the 

institutions have never practiced evaluation of 

public policies and as for individual projects and 

programs; this rate stands at only 30%. 12 

103. The Islamic Development Bank financed 

a number of Technical Assistance and capacity 

building operations in the sectors of Mining, 

Awqaf, Banking, Civil Administration, Rural 

Development and Agronomic Research, and 

Poverty reduction through effective management 

of oil resources. Besides, the setting-up of PIUs 

has been systematic for all new projects. 

104. The Technical and Financial Partners of 

Mauritania have been extensively involved in 

the Government Capacity Building programmes. 

The major programme under implementation is 

the PRECASP 13 , funded by the World Bank to focus 

on five ministries. It aims to address civil service 

reform and public sector management capacity, 

10More detailed background paper on the Capacity Building is available for 

reference. 

11World Bank, Mauritania, Policy Options to Enhance Private Sector 

Development, CEM, April 2010 

12MAED, AMSE,PNUD, Christian BONIFAS, Mohamed O/SIDI BACAR, 30 mars 

2009. 

13Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Credit In the Amount of SDR 9.1 

mn (Us$13.0 mn Equivalent) to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for a Public 

Sector Capacity Building Project, May 31, 2006. 


and improve the performance, efficacy, and 

transparency of public resources management. 

An evaluation of this 2006 project is still awaited. 

5.2 Government Strategy and Objectives 

105. The new Government strategy, reflected in 

PRSP III, recognizes that weak administrative 

capacity has hindered the country’s development 

and its ability to absorb developmental aid in 

the past. It emphasizes the need for building and 

improving the capacity of both PIUs and core 

government ministries and agencies and takes 

account of recent findings linking low absorptive 

capacity to weaknesses in the technical capacity 

of ministries, poor coordination of interventions, 

and the absence of effective monitoring and 

evaluation (M&E) capacity, notably in relation to 

data availability and quality and the institutional 

capacity for M&E 14 . 

106. Strengthening good governance and 

capacity building and reinforcement of 

monitoring, evaluation, and coordination 

constitute the fourth and the fifth pillars of 

PRSP III. PRSP III includes measures aimed at (i) 

developing capacities in the area of design and 

programming, (ii) capacity-building in project 

execution and monitoring and evaluation, (iii) 

harmonization of donor procedures, and (v) 

capacity building in the private sector. The IDB 

Group supports this approach and emphasizes 

the need for early implementation, and support 

for policy design. Also, and critically, GoM should 

urgently focus on complementary programs to 

develop private sector skills and capacity. 

5.3 IDB Group Proposed Strategy 

107. The IDB Group will earmark US$ 1 million 

to support capacity building in the public sector 

focusing on entities dealing with crosscutting 

issues including policy development, planning 

and programming, monitoring, audit and 

evaluation, and legal and regulatory frameworks. 

The following public entities will be given priority 

for support: the Ministry of Economic Affairs 

and Development, the Ministry of Finance, the 

14 Capacity Issues In the Formulation and Implementation of the Next 

Generation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, Working Paper, The African 

Capacity Building Foundation, 2009. 

28 

Ministry of Public Sector and Modernization 

of the Administration, the Commissariat for 

the Promotion des Investments, the General 

Inspectorate of the State, the Court of Accounts, 

the Agency for Project Studies and Monitoring 

and sector departments corresponding to priority 

sectors of the strategic pillars of the MCPS. 

108. IDB has pre-identified generic themes for 

capacity building. These include (a) Planning, 

programming, monitoring and evaluation 

of policies, poverty analysis, projects and 

programmes, (b) Enhancing quality at entry and 

formulation of projects, and the mastery of the 

project cycle, (c) Capacity building of staff in the 

fields of macroeconomics and statistics, economic 

modeling, (e) Development of an integrated 

information systems, and (f) Improvement of 

institutional and organizational frameworks. 

109. Instruments include technical assistance 

project with a focus on “reverse linkage” to 

promote sharing knowledge and best practices 

between Mauritania and other IDB MCs. Areas 

for cooperation include rural electrification 

(Morocco), agriculture (Egypt & Morocco) 

microfinance (Tunisia), Islamic microfinance 

(Bangladesh), SMEs and disaster management 

(Turkey), Natural resources rents management 

(Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan), and energy 

(Algeria and Arab Countries). At the same time, 

reverse linkage is not a unidirectional concept 

and Mauritania can play a major role in providing 

expertise in bilingual education to benefit Mali 

and Senegal, as noted above under cross-border 

initiatives, as well as to other IDB member 

countries in West Africa. 

110. ITAP, based on a need assessment of the 

Commissariat à la promotion des investissements 

(CPI) carried out in April 2010, is designing a 

comprehensive technical assistance program 

for Mauritania with the objective of helping 

CPI in promoting Mauritania as an investment 

destination and an estimated budget of US$ 

300,000. The program will consist of several 

components including: (i) Strengthening the 

organizational structure of CPI and staff training, 

(ii) Country Image Building, and (iii) Investment 


Human Development (Primary 

Healthcare) 

IDB 

TABLE 9: Indicative IDB Group MCPS Financing Program for 2011-2015 (1432-1436H) (in US$ Million * ) 

IDB Group Envelope: US$ 700 Million** 

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 

140 140 140 140 140 

Rural Development and Food 

Security 

ITFC, 

ICD, 

and 

ICIEC 

Private Sector Development+ 

Trade Finance 


Healthcare) 

IDB 


Security 

ITFC, 

ICD, 

and 

ICIEC 

Private Sector Development + 

Trade Finance 


Healthcare) 

IDB 


Security 


ITFC, 

ICD, 

and 

ICIEC 

IDB 

ITFC, 

ICD, 

and 

ICIEC 

30 50 60 30 50 60 30 50 60 30 50 60 30 50 60 


Trade Finance 


Healthcare) 


Security 


Trade Finance 


Healthcare) 

IDB 


Security 

ITFC, 

ICD, and 

ICIEC 

* Subject to absorptive capacity and other constraints outlined in this report. Also, total includes US$ 2 to 3 million for TA. 

** The framework agreement signed between the IDB Group and the Government of Mauritania on 29 Rajab 1429H (1 August 2008G) envisaged investing a similar 

amount of US$ 700 Million through Y2012G. 

generation activities to identify and prepare 

profiles of viable projects. 

VI. RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES 

111. The short period since the establishment of 

the new government is insufficient for affirming 

the ability of this government to maintain the 

political stability that the country really needs. 

Political instability continues to threaten the 

sustainability of the reforms that the country is 

trying to put in place to enable its development 

process. To mitigate this risk, the MCPS team has 

consulted widely in Mauritania on the proposed 

IDB Group interventions, including members 

of the opposition parties in parliament and civil 

society. Also, the MCPS is based on the objectives 

in the PRSP III which the Government has 

prepared after involving all concerned parties. 

Therefore the priorities outlined in the MCPS are 

likely to be relatively immune to political economy 

developments. 

112. Vulnerability to external shocks is 

exacerbated by the dependency of Mauritania on 

foreign aid. In the future, at least in the short and 

medium term, the success of its strategies will be 


Trade Finance 

contingent on the magnitude of the impact that 

the external shocks could exert on its economic 

growth. The speed of diversification of the 

economy would be determinant in reducing this 

dependency of Mauritania on external resources. 

Good governance of natural resource rents is a 

pre-requisite to the sound implementation of 

development strategies. Implementation of this 

MCPS will help to mitigate this risk by enhancing 

diversification of the economy. 

113. Vulnerability to natural disasters (mainly 

droughts and floods) and environmental 

degradation have been very serious issues in 

Mauritania. Support provided under pillar II is 

designed to reduce the risks faced by those most 

vulnerable to these risks (i.e. the rural poor). 

114. The size of the financing envelope. The size 

of financing indicated in this MCPS was agreed 

with the Government and is in accordance with 

the baseline growth scenario outlined in the 

PRSPIII. Under a higher growth scenario, which 

could result from either the discovery of more 

mineral resources or better management of 

windfalls leading to increased spillovers to the 

‘subsistence economy’, financing requirement

could be higher and will be reconsidered at the 

mid-term review stage. In case of lower growth 

resulting from political instability, external shocks, 

and natural disasters, the financing needs could 

also be reassessed in mid-term review. 

115. Commitment of other donors for sustained 

support to Mauritania. As noted in the report, 

Mauritania is highly dependent on foreign aid 

and thus any interruption in this aid (for example 

following unexpected political developments) will 

make it difficult for Mauritania to meet its PRSP 

III targets. In these circumstances, the continued 

IDB Group support will help to soften the impact 

from such a shock. 

116. Impact of the MCPS Program. The results 

matrix outlining the expected impact of the MCPS 

program has been prepared taking into account 

the planned investments of the Government, 

the private sector, and the interventions of 

other development partners. Expected impact 

depends on implementation of the MCPS, in 

coordination with the Government and other 

development partners. Therefore, IDB Group will 

continue active dialogue with Government and 

development partners during implementation. 

VII. CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD 

117. The dichotomy between the subsistence 

poor economy and the modern enclave economy 

poses unique challenges to Mauritania’s 

development. This unique economic structure 

has produced mixed results: on the positive 

side, the enclave economy has provided high 

and consistent rents that have allowed the 

Government to finance development activities 

including infrastructure for irrigated agriculture. 

On the negative side, the enclave economy has 

only limited links with the subsistence economy. 

In particular as the value added to raw material 


nature of extraction activities, the demand for 

labor is negligible. 

118. Thus, despite a moderate economic growth, 

poverty has remained high especially in rural 

areas. Thanks to sound macroeconomic policies, 

prudent economic management, structural 

30 

reforms and a surge in oil production in 2006, 

economic growth averaged 5% in the 2004-2008 

periods. However, the deterioration in economic 

activity resulting from domestic and external 

shocks revealed the structural weaknesses 

inherent in the economy. 

119. The prospects for significantly reducing 

poverty to 25% and achieving a stable economic 

growth of 5.5%, as envisaged in PRSPIII, and 

creating more jobs hinge on the performance of 

subsistence sectors, especially agriculture and 

livestock, and manufacturing, which face several 

constraints. These include: underdeveloped 

human capital, poor performance of agriculture, 

livestock, and manufacturing sectors, weak 

business environment for private sector activity, 

and absence of link between the modern mineral 

economy and traditional sector. 

120. The MCPS outlines a substantial IDB Group 

program of cooperation spread over the next five 

years (2011-2015), to help Mauritania address the 

aforementioned constraints. Key steps in the way 

forward to ensure success include more detailed 

programming, enhancing the effectiveness 

and role of IDB Group entities particularly to 

facilitate private sector development, and a 

mid-term review to access progress and make 

needed corrections. These steps will help to 

encourage effective implementation of the MCPS 

as an instrument of IDB Group’s partnership with 

Mauritania. 

121. There are significant benefits to both 

sides of the partnership. The partnership will 

help Mauritania in its quest to achieve its long 

term vision of a stable modern democracy, well 

integrated with the regional and global economy 

and set on the path of sustainable economic 

and social development. For the IDB Group the 

MCPS will form the cornerstone of its dialogue 

with Mauritania — it will leverage internal Group 

synergies and enhance the country’s ownership, 

and with it, the development impact of the IDB 

Group interventions. 


ANNEXES 


32 


MAURITANIA AT A GLANCE 

Selected Macroeconomic Statistics (Source: IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database, October 2010) 

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 (Est.) 

Population (millions) 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.2 

Real GDP (LCU, Billions) 339.8 343.3 355.9 352.1 368.7 

Real GDP growth (%) 11.4 1.0 3.7 -1.1 4.7 

Nominal GDP (LCU, Billions) 725.0 734.0 854.8 793.5 961.2 

Nominal GDP (US$, Billions) 2.7 2.8 3.5 3.0 3.5 

GDP per capita (current, LCU Millions) 0.251 0.248 0.282 0.256 0.302 

GDP per capita (current, US$) 933.4 953.0 1167.4 975.4 1096.3 

Inflation (%) 6.2 7.3 7.3 2.2 6.1 

Current Account Balance (%GDP) -1.3 -18.3 -15.7 -12.5 -7.6 

Sectors, value added (% of GDP) (Source: WDI 2010) 

1970 1980 1990 2000 2007 

Agriculture 29 30 30 28 13 

Industry 38 26 29 30 47 

Services 32 44 42 43 41 

Selected Social Indicators (IMF Country Report No. 10/168, April 2010) 

1996 2000 2002 2004 2008 

Poverty incidence 50.0 46.3 .. 46.7 42.0 

Prevalence of child malnutrition 32.0 .. 30.2 39.4 

Gross primary enrollment ratio 75.9 89.1 89.8 76.7 90.9 

Share of girls in total primary enrollment 46.0 48.0 49.0 79.0 93.5 

Child mortality 125.6 122.0 .. .. .. 

Maternal mortality rate .. 747.0 .. 820.0 820.0 

Incidence of HIV/AIDS .. 0.5 0.6 0.5 .. 

Private Sector Indicators (Source: World Bank 2010) 

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 

Time required to start a business 82 82 82 82 65 

2009 2010 Change 

Doing Business 161 166 -5 

Starting a Business 140 149 -9 

Dealing with Construction Permits 141 154 -13 

Employing Workers 123 125 -2 

Registering Property 62 74 -12 

Getting Credit 147 150 -3 

Protecting Investors 143 147 -4 

Paying Taxes 176 175 1 

Trading Across Borders 161 163 -2 

Enforcing Contracts 82 83 -1 

Closing a Business 150 150 0 


RESULTS MATRIX 

34 

PILLAR 1 -- HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (HEALTH) 

IDB Interventions Output 

Intermediate Results 

that IDB Group Expects 

to Influence During the 

MCPS Period 

Outcomes that the 

IDB Group Expects to 

Support 

Government Goals / Strategy Current Challenges/ 

Binding Constraints 

Inadequate 

institutional capacity: 

1.National Health 

policy and a 5-year 

health sector plan 

prepared and 

operational 

Support the initiative 

for preparation of 

a national health 

sector policy and the 

proposed five-year 

plan 

Development of 

national health sector 

plan 

Leveraging the ongoing 

efforts of key partners 

on ground; 

2. Government annual 

health budget/ 

counterpart funding 

and partners support 

to Health Increased 

Training and retaining 

of Staff 

Partnership promotion 

and synergy to address 

key challenges 

Operationalization of 

the decentralization 

Enforcement of 

governance 

• Absence of a clear 

and coherent policy 

and a national health 

sector plan 

• Understaffing of the 

Ministry of Health 

(MOH). 

• Inadequate 

decentralization 

• Weaknesses in 

financial management 

and procurement 

Improve the health and welfare 

through improved access to 

quality health care and social 

equity to enable reducing the 

overall mortality and morbidity, 

particularly IMR and MMR 

3. Improved health 

staff training, 

distribution and 

motivation 

Support to 

extension of PHC 

services (Facilities, 

equipments, raining 

and retaining of 

basic health staff at 

community level); 

Improvement in access 

to quality health 

services for vulnerable 

groups and in remote 

areas 

Increased budget 

allocation 

Under-funding: 

4. Access to quality 

health services in 

priority remote areas 

improved 

Support for disease 

control programs 

(EPI and epidemics 

control) 

Alternative Health 

financing promoted 

Weak health 

management 

information system 

(HMIS/ 

Lack of coordination 

between key partners 


PILLAR 2 -- RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SECURITY (AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY) 





MCPS Period 



Support 



Access to food improved 

as measured by the Food 

Security Commission 

(CSA) 

Challenges 

Food security improved 

Incomes increased for 

targeted communities in 

IDB intervention areas. 

Rural Poverty reduced 

Rural areas, where more 

than 50% of the poor live 

have sufficient potential 

to ensure food security 

and eliminate poverty, 

and contribute positively 

to the national economy. 

Infrastructure ( access 

roads, small dams, wells, 

gardens, grain storage, 

etc.). Equipment (grain 

mills, fences, tools, etc.). 

Farmers trained and 

organized. 

Community-based 

integrated rural 

development and 

watershed management 

project (CBIRD-WM). 

Project: X1 

Provide food security; 

More areas under 

production and higher 

yields obtained. 

Agriculture production in 

rain fed areas increased. 

Mauritania rain fed 

zone can sustain more 

than twice the actual 

production of cereal 

and pulses if existing 

improved techniques 

for soil and water 

conservation and 

management were 

adopted, if functional 

value chains were 

established and if local 

communities were fully 

empowered. 


Alleviate poverty; 

Promote the sustainable and 

equitable growth of the sector. 

Increase its contribution to the 

national economy. 

X hectares of irrigated 

schemes rehabilitated 

and under production. 

Farmers trained and 

organized. 

Rehabilitation of existing 

irrigated schemes (REIS). 

Project: X2 

Rice yields and 

production increased. 

and economic viability of 

local rice achieved in IDB 

supported projects. 

Rice yields and 

production increased. 

and economic viability of 

local rice achieved in the 

Senegal River Valley. 

Irrigation potential 

(137.000ha) is sufficient 

to meet most of country 

needs for rice, vegetables 

and animal feed and 

allow for some vegetable 

and/or fruit exports.

PILLAR 2 -- RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SECURITY (AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY) (CONTINUED) 

36 





MCPS Period 



Support 



Livestock inventory 

completed. 

Veterinarian staff 

trained, equipped and 

operational. 

New water points 

created. 

Livestock Project. 

Project: X3 

The livestock population 

is healthier and more 

productive. 

Added value per animal is 

increased. 

*Milk collection system is 

in place. 

*Milk processing centers 

are operational and 

economically viable. 

*Market share for local 

milk improved and 

imports reduced. 

*Number of milk 

processing centers 

increased. 

*Volume of local milk 

processed is increased. 

*Value-added in the dairy 

and red mead sectors 

significantly increased. 

Potential to support 

a larger and healthier 

livestock population and 

to improve significantly 

the value-added of this 

sector. It can: (a) produce 

all the milk the country 

needs; (b) increase 

the value-added of its 

red meat production 

for local markets and 

exports and (c) develop a 

modern hide and leather 

processing industry. 

Provide food security; 

*Slaughter houses are 

built and are operational. 

Support to the 

Private Sector for the 

development of (i) 

dairies, (ii) slaughter 

houses, (iii) meat 

processing centers and 

(iv) skin and leather 

industries. 

Project: X5 

*Local red meat market 

if fully supplied and 

according to norms and 

processed red meat 

exports are growing. 

Alleviate poverty; 

*Value-added for hides is 

significantly augmented 

*Hide treatment units 

are built 

Promote the sustainable and 

equitable growth of the sector. 

*Mauritania exports 

processed hides 

Increase its contribution to the 

national economy. 

Training and equipment 

of fisherman completed. 

Development of 

fish culture and fish 

management as part 

of CBIRD-WM and REIS 

projects. 

Project: X1 & X2 

Fish production and 

catches are increased. 

Fish is sold on the local 

market. More fish is 

being consumed. .locally 

Inland fish production 

and marketing developed 

and procure additional 

income and food for local 

populations 

Inland fishing potential in 

the major watercourses 

(Senegal River and 

tributaries) and in the few 

water reservoirs can be 

better exploited in order 

to increase income and 

improve nutrition in rural 

areas. 


PILLAR 2 -- RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SECURITY (INFRASTRUCTURE -- TRANSPORT) 



that IDB Group 

Expects to Influence 

During the MCPS 

Period 



Support 

Current Challenges/ 


Government Goals / Strategy 

Source: PRSP III 

Feasibility study 

for the additional 

segments 

- Continue 

implementing the 

North-South Corridor 

through Atar-Tidjikja- 

Kifa 

Feasibility study 

for the additional 

segments is ready 

A significant reduction 

in travel time for 

traffic through the 

new North-South 

corridor 

Imbalanced funding 

for road maintenance 

versus road 

construction 

Steady 

implementation of the 

on-going projects and 

approval of financing 

for new segments 

Financing of some 

segments approved, 

(particularly 

- Improving rural 

access through paving 

and tarring rural 

feeders and earth 

tracks 

High transportation 

fees, limited 

capacity and lack 

of competitiveness 

of the maritime 

transport 

Improve the institutional 

organization of the sector 

Master plan of 

improvement of rural 

access road prepared 

Significant reduction 

in the cost of 

transport services 

through the corridor 

Priority rural access 

roads based on fair 

techno-economic 

criteria 


Modernize the development of 

infrastructure 

- Enhancing the 

capacity of the 

National Road 

Maintenance 

Authority 

Master Plan for 

the ENER activity 

expansion is 

prepared, Investment 

in Heavy material is 

defined 

Substantial 

improvement in 

access to markets in 

rain fed areas 

Limited capacity 

of the national 

construction sector 

Improve the economic 

competitiveness of transport 

services 

Master Business Plan 

for the ENER activity 

expansion is prepared 

including renewal and 

Investment plan for 

Heavy material 

Increased capacity 

of the ENER in terms 

of roads length 

maintained per year. 

Limited internal 

capacity for M & E of 

projects 

Reinforce the capacity of the 

sector 

Feasibility study of 

integrated MIS in the 

Ministry of Transport 

- Technical and 

Managerial 

capacity building 

of the Ministry 

and Transport, 

particularly in terms 

of deployment of an 

effective MIS 

Needs Assessment 

and ToR for the 

preparation of 

Feasibility study of 

integrated MIS in the 

Ministry of Transport 

is prepared 

Comprehensive MIS 

of the Ministry of 

Transport in line with 

the Multi-modal 

master plan study 

Lack of PPP structures 

and regulations and 

limited absorption 

capacity of public 

sector

PILLAR 2 -- RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SECURITY (ENERGY) 

38 





MCPS Period 

Outcomes that the IDB 

Group Expects to Support 

Current Challenges/ 


Government Goals / Strategy 

Source: PRSP III 

Interventions to support 

• Solar Energy and related 

investments in Foum 

Legleyte dam – El Ghayre 

zone; and Nbeykitt 

Lahrath, Dhar zone; in 

Adel Berou zone). 

• Rate of urban 

electrification increased 

from 50% to 80% 

• OMVS and national 

networks are upgraded to 

cater for additional new 

generation capacity 

• Rate of rural and semiurban 

electrification 

increased from 5% to 

40%. 

• Nouakchott– 

Nouadhibou transmission 

connection 

• Restructuring of State 

Owned Enterprise 

(SOMELEC) is completed 

• Inefficiency of State 

Owned Enterprise and its 

monopolistic nature 

Sustain growth by: 

Contracts awarded for 

the construction of CSPs 

in respective regions 

Increased production capacity 

• Transmission Network 

Extension to Selibaby, 

Kiffa, Aiou, and Nema. 

• SOMELEC becomes 

a soundly managed 

economically and 

financially viable 

organization 

• Lack of investment 

during past 5 years 

Promotion of interconnected 

network to reduce the cost of 

power generation 

Detailed Design for 

the expansion and 

interconnection of the 

separate networks 

• Development of 

HV transmission lines 

(OMVS). 

• Solar Energy Project for 

hybridization of isolated 

networks financing is 

approved , contract for 

construction of CSPs 

awarded in respective 

regions. 

• Exploitation of Energy 

source potential of 

country especially Solar 

& Gas 

• Energy production 

overly dependent on fuel/ 

diesel import 

Rural electrification 

• Limited Energy 

resources 

Development of local synergies 

and renewable energy 

Technical Assistance in 

building institutional 

capacity and structure 

for the development and 

structuring of IPP (PPP) 

Energy projects 

• Master plan and 

Feasibility study for 

upgrading and expanding 

the transmission network 

are completed 

• Significantly improved 

access to reliable and 

affordable electricity 

• Explore optimization 

of Fuel import financing 

through ITFC financing. 

Explore optimization of 

Fuel import financing 

through ITFC financing. 


PILLAR 3 -- ENHANCING AND DIVERSIFYING THE MODERN ECONOMY (PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT) 






Period 



Support 



• Slow functioning and 

outdated legal system 

• Reinforcement of structural 

reforms; 

• Lack of skilled staff 

• SME development & 

promotion of Islamic 

financing 

• Improve corporate 

governance 

• Lack of Management 

skills 

• Improvement of business 

climate; 

• Promotion of growth sources; 

and 

• Project development 

Facility 

• Support SME 

development 

• Support private 

entrepreneur prepare 

bankable projects 

• Support private 

projects in the fishery 

sector 

• Weak organisations 

as most companies are 

typically family-based 

businesses and the 

owner is dominant. 

• Development of 

infrastructures for a sustainable 

growth. 

• Ensure sufficient 

supply of affordable 

housing units and 

other real estate 

infrastructure 

• Enabling 

environment for 

Islamic finance/private 

sector development 

• Limited Market 

knowledge, which 

triggers lack of market 

data. 

• Rural development with a 

special attention focused on rain 

agriculture and livestock; 

• Access to finance 

is difficult as banks 

are reluctant to lend 

given the scarcity of 

bankable projects. 

• Promotion of the access of 

the poor to adapted financial 

services and the development 

of SME; 

• Conservation of the 

environment and its promotion 

as an economic asset 

• Limited use of IT 

given a lack of skills 

and of infrastructure. 


• Islamic Bank of 

Mauritania 

• Help SMEs promote 

corporate governance 

• MMI project 

• Special Economic 

Zone (SEZ) of 

Nouadhibou 

• Boost the value 

creation in the fishery 

sector by developing 

the required 

platform for local 

transformation of the 

fishery products 

Boost investment in 

the fishery sector 

• Establish the Islamic 

bank of Mauritania 

• Launch catalyst 

programs which are 

business enabler to the 

private entrepreneurs

PILLAR 3 -- ENHANCING AND DIVERSIFYING THE MODERN ECONOMY (TRADE FINANCE) 

40 





MCPS Period 



Support 



1- Commercial banks’ 

transactions mainly 

concern operators of 

the import – export 

sector, and are 

essentially based on 

short-term financing 

1- Have ITFC , and 

ICIEC as main partners 

for Public short term 

needs. 

1- SONIMEX, SOMELEC 

and SOMAGAS for 

public companies 

1- Have Government 

support in securing 

deals by providing 

Government 

guarantees to the 

targeted companies 

1- Regular supply 

of Foodstuff and 

Agriculture products 

and prices stability 

against speculation. 

Particular focus on 

strategic commodities 

such seeds, fertilizers, 

which are critical 

for Mauritania food 

security and agriculture 

development. 

2- The cost of Financing 

is seen as very 

expensive, short term 

financing often exceed 

12% pa 

2- Participate in the 

financing of strategic 

commodities in favor 

of private and Public 

entities 

2- All local banks 

to materialize lines 

of financing in the 

benefit of SMEs 

3- Government 

companies could 

improve their financing 

conditions 

Trade Finance 

2- Have Government 

involvement in 

facilitating the contact 

and the feasibility 

studies. 

2- Financing SMEs 

in targeted sectors 

through lines of finance 

dedicated to local 

banks. 

4- SMEs needs better 

terms and Conditions 

for short term financing 

3- Finance Government 

Companies in need of 

short term facilities: 

Petroleum and Energy 

companies, importing 

companies, 

5- Existent need in 

foodstuff, Agriculture 

products, Energy and 

Petroleum Short term 

financing 


Cross-cutting Theme: CAPACITY BUILDING 

Capacity Building for Generic and Systemic Weaknesses 





MCPS Period 



Support 



4th and 5th Pillars of PRSP-III: Improving Governance and Capacity Building Economic Governance and Enhancing Piloting, Monitoring, Evaluation and Coordination of the 

PRSP 

- Institutional and 

Organisational building 

operations, 

- Weak capacity for 

Project Design and 

Formulation (Lack of 

Quality at Entry) 

- To enhance planning and 

programming, 

- Personnel and cadre 

training sessions, 

- Planning, 

programming, 

monitoring and 

evaluation of 

policies, projects and 

programmes enhanced, 

- To develop the statistical 

functions and information 

systems, 

- Recruitment of 

experts for in-house 

Training and Education, 

- Weak dimensions 

of Management for 

Development Results 

(leadership, monitoring 

and evaluation and 

budget processes) 

- Technical Capacity 

for Capacity Building 

Operations (Grants 

and Loans) 

- Progressive buildup 

of the statistical 

and Monitoring 

and Evaluation 

systems within the 

Administration, 

- To secure an efficient and 

effective management of public 

resources, 

- Promotion of 

Regional Cooperation 

(Cooperation 

Framework 

Agreements) 

- Capacity of 

ministries in policy 

formulation, planning, 

programming, Project 

design and formulation, 

implementation, 

monitoring, audit and 

evaluation enhanced, 

- M&E Units exist in 

only 50% of the Public 

Administration, 


- To improve the institutional 

and organizational framework 

- Institutional and 

organizational 

frameworks improved, 

- To develop human resource, 

- Government Entities 

concerned: MAED, MF, 

MPSMA, CPI, GIS, CoA, 

APSM, and Sectoral 

Ministries. 

- M&E is not a 

permanent activity for 

projects and policies, 

- Capacity of human 

resources in terms of 

poverty analysis and 

assessment of policy 

impacts strengthened. 

- To set up an efficient 

monitoring and evaluation 

system and consistent reporting 

instruments. 

- Weak absorptive 

capacity,


Capacity Building for Generic and Systemic Weaknesses 

42 





MCPS Period 



Support 



Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security 

- Attractive Environment 

for PPP in Agriculture 

set up, 

- Weak capacity of 

institutions, 

- Negotiation of PPP 

Contracts 

- Master plan for 

attribution of land plots 

under PPP contracts 

- Capacity of Agricultural 

institutions enhanced 

- Lack of appropriate 

framework for private 

participation in 

agriculture sector 

- To promote the PPP in the 

Agriculture Sector 

- Strengthening of 

statistic analysis capacity 

- Targeted Training 

Sessions 



Operations (Grants and 

Loans) 

- Turnaround plan of 

UNCACEM, SONADER 

- Application of 

agronomic research 

increased, 

- Weak entities in charge 

of extension services and 

dissemination 

- To enhance Agricultural 

institutions (UNCACEM, 

SONADER, SNAAT, Research 

Centers, Agricultural Education,) 

- Institutional Building 

- Capacity Building for 

SNAAT 

- Value chains in 

Agriculture and Livestock 

studies, 

- Inexistence of applied 

agronomic research, 

- Technical Cooperation 

with IDB membership, 

- To improve capacity of analysis, 

planning, and evaluation of the 

Ministry of Rural Development, 

- Institutional Support in 

term of sanitary control 

of livestock products 

- National food security 

strategy reviewed, 

- Lack of studies of valuechains 

- Extension Services and 

Dissemination enhanced, 

- Outdated food security 

strategy 

Fisheries 


Sessions, 



Operations (Grants and 

Loans) 

- Enhance the capacity of 

the Ministry cadre in term 

of fish stock management 

tools 

- Strengthening of 

Research in fisheries 

Sector for Optimal 

exploitation of fish stocks 

- Weak governance 

- Overuse of fish stocks 

- To increase the Government 

Institutional and Technical 

Capacity to manage the fish stock 

resources 



Capacity Building for Generic and Systemic Weaknesses (Continued) 






Period 



Support 



Health Sector 

- Lack of clear and 

articulated strategy 


Sessions 

- Lack of adequate 

staff 

- Institutional Building 

(school of public 

health, paramedical 

education) 




and Loans) 

- Creation and 

Equipment of 

laboratory for control 

of drugs quality 

- Preparation of the 

Health Sector Strategy 

- To prepare the Health Sector 

Strategy 

- Weak managerial 

capacity 


Transport 

- To build capacity in the 

maintenance of roads network 

- Training Sessions of 

Agents and cadre of 

ENER 

- ENER’s Capacity 

Enhanced, 

- Weak capacity in 

maintenance of roads, 




and Loans) 

- Training in Planning 

and formulation of 

Transport Projects 

Setting-up of 

Technical Unit for 

Projects Design 

within the Directorate 

of Transport 

Infrastructure 

- Functions of design, 

monitoring and 

evaluation of projects 

strengthened, 

- Weak capacity in 

design, monitoring 

and evaluation 

- To enhance monitoring 

and evaluation capacity, 

management of concession 

contracts for the Directorate 

of Planning, Cooperation and 

Research


Capacity Building for Generic and Systemic Weaknesses (Continued) 

44 






Period 



Support 



Electricity 

- Weak capacity 

in identification, 

formulation of PPP 

Energy projects 


Sessions in PPP 

Contracts negotiation, 

- Setting-up of the 

Agency for Renewable 

Energy 

- Master Plan for 

Electricity Distribution 

Grid 

- Institutional 

framework of energy 

production outdated, 

- To enhance the capacity of 

identification, formulation and 

negotiation of PPP Electricity 

Projects 

- Reverse linkage 

agreements between 

Mauritania and IDB 

member countries in 

Rural Electrification 

and Renewable 

Energy, 




and Loans) 

- Review of the 

Institutional 

Framework for Energy 

Production 

- Preparation of the 

strategy of Renewable 

Energy 

- Weak capacity of 

implementation of 

rural electrification 

and renewable energy 

projects 

- To enhance the capacity 

of implementation of rural 

electrification projects and 

Renewable Energy Projects 

- To review the 

institutional 

Framework of Energy 

Production, 

- Lack of master 

plan for Electricity 

distribution grid

Mauritania - Islamic Development Bank

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