Mauritania Country Economic Memorandum : Accelerating Growth Through Diversification and Productive Cities

World Bank

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ECONOMIC GROWTH;    STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION;    URBANIZATION;    DIVERSIFICATION;    COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE;   

RP-ID  :  148746

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The Mauritanian economy is at animportant crossroad. Despite significant increases initsnatural resource wealth, economic development inMauritania remains weak. The over-reliance on naturalresources has left the economy undiversified with growth,exports, and fiscal revenues all dependent on extractives.Responding to the 2015 commodity price shock, theauthorities implemented a strong fiscal consolidationprogram that restored macroeconomic stability andsteered theeconomy onto a recovery path. The newadministration—appointed following the election inmid-2019—now has the challenge and opportunity to map out amore sustainable development model and steer the economyonto a path of accelerated and equitable economic growth forthe rapidly growing population. The objective of this reportis to support policy makers in Mauritania in their reformefforts to accelerate growth as outlined in the NationalDevelopment Plan (SCAPP).It attempts to answer the followingquestions: (i) Why Mauritania could not diversify itseconomy in the past and what are the opportunities to do soin the future? (ii) What are the reasons behind the weaklink between urbanization and growth, and is Nouakchottlifting its weight as anurban agglomeration? (iii) Whichpolicy actions could help build those pathways? By answeringthese questions, the report aims to contribute to theeconomic discussion and provide policy recommendations forthe choices that Mauritania is facing to accelerate growthand improve theliving standards of its population. Thereport is organized around five chapters. Chapter 1startswith a brief introduction. Chapter 2 analyzes the keycharacteristics of Mauritania’s past growth performance.Chapter 3 evaluates the current and future potential foreconomic and export diversification. Chapter 4 examines thechallenges that are preventing urbanization fromcontributing to growth, with a focus on Nouakchott. Chapter5 concludes by proposing a menu of policy recommendationsthat could help Mauritania achieve faster and moresustainable economic growth.