February 21, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 3, 1428

CONAKRY, Feb 20: Guinea, though very rich in mineral resources, is ranked among the worst economic performers of Africa and the political crisis engulfing the country further strains its chances of recovery.

"Even the informal market is partly at a standstill. The markets are almost empty and the shops are closed," Mbalanga Gasarabwe, director of the UN Development Programme in Conakry, said.

"When a country does not move, there are many repercussions. Bauxite exports and other revenue earners are suspended," the United Nations official told AFP in the west African country.

Guinea has been paralysed by the general strike launched on January 10 lasting for 18 days and then resumed last week in protest at the appointment of a close aide to President Lansana Conte as the country's new prime minister.

The developments have dramatic consequences for Guineans, already labouring under high unemployment and a rate of inflation of over 40 per cent in a country endowed with huge bauxite reserves. Guinea's currently stands as the world's top exporter of bauxite, an ore used to produce aluminium.

The country also boasts gold, diamond and copper reserves.

Mining feeds Guinea's economic growth which stood at three per cent in 2005, according to the World Bank, but the population -- 40 per cent of whom live in abject poverty, "are the first to be hit by misery," said Jose Puig Vara, economic advisor to the European Union in Guinea.

Under pressure from the country's powerful unions, the government at the end of January agreed to reduce the price of fuel and the food staple, rice, and to ban the export of foodstuffs.

Implementing the deals will result in an "estimated budget deficit of 90 million euros ($69 million)" Puig Vara warned, yet the "state coffers are empty".

"Taking into consideration the budgetary management of the state, the consequences of the new crisis will certainly be disastrous," said Puig Vara.

Observers say only external help could come to the rescue of the west African country, but aid from international financial backers is for the moment frozen. —AFP