The growth of The Gambia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced domestically in the country over a specified period, has drop from 6.3 per cent in 2008 to 5.6 percent in 2009. GDP includes income earned domestically by foreigners, but does not include income earned by domestic residents on foreign ground. - The growth of GDP from one period to another is an indication of how healthy the country's economy is. The latest report of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), explained that the contraction in the country’s GDP growth “was due to the decline in the growth of agricultural output and the impact of glo…

Investment in The Gambia's telecommunication sector has decelerated in 2009, as indicated by the latest report of the sector's regulatory body. The latest annual report of The Gambia Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) states that total annual investment in the telecommunication sector was equivalent to D699.3 million ($27m) in 2009 compared to the 2008 figures of D847 million ($32.6m). - “This shows a 17.4% fall in investment figures in the sector,” the report states. The reported figures show QCell, the latest entrant in the country’s telecoms sector, with the highest amount of investment in 2009. Before 2009, The Gambia has been experiencing steady gr…

- The World Food Programme Representative in The Gambia has observed it will be difficult for The Gambia to attain food-sufficiency under the country’s current state of food production, which is based on rain-fed agriculture. Gambian farmers heavily rely on rainfall for crop production and the pattern of rain is now becoming more and more erratic due to the climate change phenomenon. Speaking to this reporter at his office at the UN House in Cape Point, Bakau, Malcolm Duthie said that for the country to be able to feed itself “we have to move from rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture so that we can have all-year-round crop production”. The country can fe…

- Majority of Gambians are finding it very difficult to keep their heads above water these days as prices of basic food commodities continue to skyrocket, on the hills of an increased transport fare and electricity tariffs, even though the nation continues to experience erratic power supply. As this dire situation continues stakeholders in the tussle are pointing fingers at each other. Consumers are blaming the government for leaving traders to increase prices at will, while traders are partly blaming it on the rise in prices of goods at the international market as well as on the government for not reducing taxes or subsidizing basic foodstuffs, which in turn causes reduction in prices of…

- The Gambia National Trade Union Congress (GNTUC) in Banjul on Sunday called on the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs to increase salaries and wages by 500 percent without inflation on price commodities. This, according to GNTUC Secretary General Ebrima Garba Cham will remarkably contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan (PRSP), the Project for Accelerate Growth and Employment (PAGE), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Decent Work and Government’s blue print development plan, Vision 2020. Mr. Garba Cham, who was reading a Resolution by Workers in The Gambia on May Day at the Independent Stadium in Banjul, lamented that p…

- The President of the Dakar-based National Organisation for Human Rights (ONDH) Mr. Djibril Aziz BADIANE has called on The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and Senegalese President Abdoulie Wade to resolve the “unofficial” border blockade. Mr. BADIANE, who is heading a nine-month project on “Human Rights Approach in the Process of Regional Integration in West Africa”, was in Banjul, where he held a day long workshop as part of the project initiated in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and The Gambia. During a recent press conference at the Baobab Holiday Resort, Bijilo, he told journalists that “If things like this (border blockade) happen, the leaders of both co…

- The Gambia has registered an estimated fiscal deficit of more than D50 million (fifty million dalasis) because the government’s expenditure is far more than its revenue. The country’s fiscal performance continues to be challenged by higher-than-projected expenditures by the government that is not matched by revenue performance of the country. The governor of Central Bank of The Gambia, Amadou Kolley, while speaking at the quarterly Monetary Policy Committee press briefing held on Friday at the Central Bank in Banjul, has revealed that the preliminary estimates indicate that the country has a fiscal deficit of D58.3 million (fifty-eight million and three hundred thousand dalas…

- The circulation of money in the Gambia economy has continued to increase vis-à-vis prudent monetary policy put in place by the Central Bank of The Gambia to control money supply excesses that usually lead to inflation. Money supply (M2), which is a measure of the total money in circulation, increased by 19.4 per cent in December 2009 from 18.4 per cent in the preceding year, the latest report of the Central Bank of The Gambia has indicated. The Bank’s 2009 report, which was recently presented at the National Assembly for adoption, states that the increase in money supply was on account of increase in both Net Foreign Assets (NFA) and Net Domestic Assets (NDA) of the entire banking…

- As the race for 2011 presidential election inches closer, Henry Gomez, leader of the opposition Gambia's Party for Democracy and Progress (GPDP) has called for change in the political landscape of the country, noting that the time has come to make decisions that will shape and change our vision. He said that such decisions will either make them as political party leader's great people or people to be blamed for failure. "The greatness of a nation is not by its size, but by the decisions, proposals or vision of its people. This is a principle that the Gambia Party for Democracy and Progress is bound to initiate," Gomez said. According to the GPDP leader, time h…

- Banjul International Airport - the one and only international airport in The Gambia – is to be upgrade and position as a regional hub that will link the West African sub-region with the rest of the world, the Director General of Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Mr. Fansu Bojang revealed on Thursday while submitting the activity report of the Authority at the National Assembly. “The GCAA is vigorously working towards achieving this objective,” he told the Lawmakers. “The Authority has put in place various incentives to encourage the creation of a home-based airline a key requirement for the realization of a hub-and-spoke system. Running parallel with this,…

- A Magistrate court in The Gambia has, on Thursday, convicted and sentenced Michael Russels, a British national, to 18 months in prison with hard labour without an option of a fine. Russels, who was found guilty of obtaining money by false pretence, was further ordered to compensate the complainant with D40,000. Magistrate Tabally, who presided over the case, said he had gone through the evidence adduced by the prosecution witnesses and that of the convict before delivering the verdict. He said the prosecution witnesses told the court that the convict collected D35, 000 from the complainant, Lamin Ceesay, on the pretence of securing him a job and a passport. The presiding magist…

- The UNDP’s 2010 Global Human Development Report 2010 has placed The Gambia 151 out of 169 countries ranked in its Human Development Index. The latest ranking means the country has dropped by one per cent from its 2009 ranking 150. The Human Development Index (HDI) measures a country’s average achievements in three basic aspects of human development. These are health, education and income. The HDI ranking is part of the UNDP’s Global Human Development Report 2010 on the theme ‘The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development’. It was launched by the Vice President of The Gambia, Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy on Wednesday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.…

- Mr. Assan Martin, a human rights lawyer, has rubbished the ongoing campaign by chiefs in the Gambia to crown president Jammeh as king of the country. Tribal chieftains in the country are touring the country to rally support for President Yahya Jammeh's coronation. He said: “If this is to happen, it means we are taking Gambia’s Democracy forty five years back”. The proponents of Gambia’s independence fought hard against monarchy under colonial rule and succeeded in establishing a nation built on the principles of democracy, rule of law, human rights and good governance. “It is true that every person protected under the Constitution enjoys the right to…

- The Gambia government has said the sub-regional body, ECOWAS has no legal mandate to interfere in the internal affairs of Ivory Coast. ECOWAS has taken a rear tough decision on December 24 in Abuja, threatening to use legitimate force to oust Ivory Coast’s self-perpetuating president Laurent Gbagbo as all diplomatic means proved futile. Gbagbo refused to cede power to Mr Ouattara despite losing in 28 November presidential elections and has since then faced international condemnation. But a statement delivered by secretary general to the government of The Gambia and head of civil service Dr Njogu Bah said his government has strong reservations on the decisions made by ECO…

- The Gambia National Assembly Members had ratified a resolution calling on the United Nations, the United States of America and the International Community, to lift the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba since 1960. “It is a matter of particular urgency,” said Hon. Fatou Mbye, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of The Gambia on Monday while tabling the motion before the National Assembly for ratification. Hon. Mbye calls on the United Nations Security Council and all its bodies to reconsider their positions and urge the Government of the United States of America to lift the embargo and blockade imposed on the Government and people of Cuba for over…

The Gambia Government will, in January 2011, introduce new tax measures in order to generate additional revenue to finance government spending on goods and services. The move is seen as a way curbing government's dependence on borrowing. - The Minister of Finance, Hon Abdou Kolley, urged Gambians to comply saying that “tax compliance in the Gambia remains a formidable challenge. Delivering the budget statement and economic policy financial year 2011, before the National Assembly in Banjul on Friday, Hon. Kolley said in an effort to enhance domestic revenue mobilization Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), the body tasked with revenue collection in the country among other things, wi…