Mauritania: Improving Education To Foster Social Cohesion And Support Economic Development

Economic growth increased from 2.1% in 2018 to 5.9% in 2019, driven by a rebound in the extractive sector due to increased mining production, particularly of gold and iron. In parallel, non-extractive growth remained robust (at 5% in 2019) thanks to strong growth in the energy and telecommunications sectors, which compensated for the deceleration in the agricultural and fishing sectors. 

So says the World Bank’s third Economic Update for Mauritania, Improving Education to Foster Social Cohesion and Support Economic Development. It notes that while macroeconomic stability has improved in recent years, it will be greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The outbreak will mainly affect the economy due to the global economic slowdown and the contraction of domestic consumption, which will be impacted by the social distancing measures put in place by the authorities to reduce the spread of the virus. As a result, GDP growth could plummet from 5.9% in 2019 to between -2% and -6.8 % in 2020………………………………………………..