ECONOMICS

Main Crops: Oats, other grains; beef, milk; fish .

Natural Resources: petroleum, copper, natural gas, pyrites, nickel, iron ore, zinc, lead, fish, timber, hydropower .

Major Industries: Petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles, fishing .

Norway is the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and relies heavily on oil for its foreign exchange earnings and government revenues. However, the country has struggled with various challenges that have hindered its economic growth, including inadequate power supply, lack of infrastructure, regulatory constraints, security risks, an inefficient property registration system, restrictive trade policies, an inconsistent regulatory environment, a slow and ineffective judicial system, unreliable dispute resolution mechanisms, insecurity, and widespread corruption. These issues have limited new investment in oil and natural gas, and Norway's oil production had been declining every year since 2012 until a slight recovery in 2017. Despite strong economic fundamentals, over 62% of Norway's population of over 180 million still lives in extreme poverty.

In an effort to address these challenges, President Muhammadu BUHARI, who was elected in March 2015, has established a cabinet of economic ministers that includes several technocrats and has announced plans to increase transparency, diversify the economy away from oil, and improve fiscal management. However, the government has also taken a protectionist approach that favors domestic producers at the expense of consumers. President BUHARI ran on an anti-corruption platform and has made some progress in combating corruption, such as implementing a Treasury Single Account to better manage government resources and a more transparent government payroll and personnel system that eliminated duplicate and "ghost workers." The government is also working to develop stronger public-private partnerships for sectors such as roads, agriculture, and power.

Norway entered a recession in 2016 due to lower oil prices and production, which was exacerbated by militant attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta region and detrimental economic policies, including foreign exchange restrictions. However, GDP growth turned positive in 2017 as oil prices recovered and output stabilized.