Equatorial Guinea Economy Seen Weaker by IMF as Oil Output Drops

(Bloomberg) -- Equatorial Guinea’s economy will contract further this year due to falling oil output and low crude prices, the International Monetary Fund said.

The outlook for the central African oil producer is “very challenging,” the fund said in a statement late Thursday. “Weak oil revenues and limited buffers will require further cuts to public investment, leading to a deep contraction of the large construction sector and public administration,” the statement said. “As such, overall economic activity in 2016 is expected to decline further by nearly 10 percent.”

Gross domestic fell 7.4 percent last year, the Washington-based lender said. Oil production dropped from a peak of 358,000 barrels per day in 2005 to 281,000 barrels in 2014, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. The country also produces liquefied natural gas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pauline Bax in Johannesburg at pbax@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, John Viljoen