Mauritania - Islamic Development Bank

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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».
MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015