CHAPTER FOUR: ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT __________________________________________________________________________ Figure 4.1: Economic performance Economic Performance 7 1 400 6 1 200 GDP per 1 000 person (US$) GDP 5 Growth Rate (%) 4 800 3 600 2 400 1 200 0 0 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Benin: Real GDP growth rate (%) (left scale) Africa: Real GDP growth rate (%) (left scale) Bénin: per capita GDP (US$) ( right scale) Africa: per capita GDP (US$) ( right scale) Source: African Development Bank, World Economic Outlook, IMF, April 2007. 383. 26 Production remains undiversified and cotton accounts for more than 50% of exports. The increase in economic activity (4.5%) has remained below the performance indicators, which projected GDP growth at nearly 7% for 2006. The low economic growth is caused mainly by significant delays in implementing structural reforms – particularly in the cotton sector, which is the country’s main source of foreign exchange – and by the low competitiveness of Benin’s enterprises, which are handicapped by the poor performance of the electricity and telecommunications sector and the Cotonou Port. With regard to the cotton sector, the reforms that started in 2002 have not yet been fully implemented. Furthermore, the bases for the sustainable management of the sector involving all stakeholders, particularly the Cotton Inter-professional Association (AIC), have not yet been laid. Also, the industrial tool of the National Company for Agricultural Promotion (SONAPRA – Société Nationale pour la Promotion Agricole) has not yet been effectively privatised. Nevertheless, it must be emphasised that the sector is moving in a new direction. As part of its policy of privatisation, the government recently decided to cede partial control over SONAPRA26 to a new organisation, the Société Commune de Participation, which would hold 45% of the shares of SONAPRA. The Beninese state would retain 35% of the shares while cotton producers, SONAPRA employees and domestic and foreign investors would together hold 20% of the shares. 8 October 2007. The Nation (La Nation), Number 4342. ‘The Cabinet. Creation of a New Society for Developing the Cotton Sector’. 140