• Gabon suspended import duties, VAT, and scanning fees on essential goods for six months to curb living costs.

• The government targeted food staples and construction materials to protect purchasing power and limit housing cost pressures.

• The measure added strain to public finances, already weakened by falling oil and gas output and rising debt.

Against a backdrop of persistent price increases, the Gabonese authorities approved a temporary fiscal relief package covering key consumer goods.

The government suspended for six months “the collection of import duties and taxes, value-added tax, and scanning fees on food products and certain construction materials,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Economy, Finance, Debt and State Holdings, which oversees the fight against high living costs.

The measure covered widely consumed food products, including meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, canned foods, rice, pasta, cooking oils, and sugar.
In the construction sector, the government also suspended taxes on reinforcing steel, cement, gravel, and sand to limit cost increases and their impact on housing prices and rents.

To ensure the effectiveness of the measure, the authorities urged importers, wholesalers, and retailers to pass cost reductions on to final prices.
The government announced inspections and provided a toll-free hotline for consumers to report abuses.

Persistent Inflationary Pressures

This decision came amid persistent inflation driven by rising prices, limited market supply, and speculative practices affecting essential goods.
According to the latest sectoral economic report from the Ministry of Economy, Gabon’s average annual inflation reached 1.8% at the end of September 2025, compared with 1.4% a year earlier.

To curb price increases, the government created a central purchasing agency in 2025, with operations scheduled to begin in April 2026.
The agency will stabilize prices of everyday consumer goods by negotiating directly with international producers to import rice, wheat, and other staples for distribution to wholesalers at a single fixed price.

However, the tax suspension created a significant revenue shortfall for public finances. Gabon has faced financial difficulties for several years, notably due to a slowdown in key extractive sectors such as oil and natural gas.

According to the Ministry of Economy, oil production fell by 4.3% and natural gas output declined by 1.7% at the end of 2025. Meanwhile, rising wage bills and debt levels further weakened the budget, with net liabilities increasing by 11.1% in a single quarter.

In this broader economic slowdown, the government described the temporary loss of tax revenue as a “substantial budgetary effort.”

Sandrine Gaingne