Like all countries in the world, Mauritania has been affected by the spread of the Covide19 pandemic, especially in the socioeconomic fields. A worrying situation caused by the slowdown in the majority of projects operating in public sector, and by the decrease of industrial and commercial activities in the private sector. The damage caused by this situation was difficult to bear: the collapse of growth from 5.9% in 2019 to -2% in 2020, the rise in inflation from 2.3% in 2019 to 4.1 % in 2021, and the worsening of the current account deficit which rebounded from 10.6% of GDP to 18.5%, during the same period.

 To face this crisis, Mauritania launched an economic stimulus program of 24 billion MRO (nearly 630 million USD), extended over thirty months. The program focuses primarily on social sectors, infrastructure and food self-sufficiency, to create nearly 52,000 job opportunities. Mauritania is relying heavily, for the financing of this program, on the income derived from mining exports, in particular iron, gold and copper which generated 1.450 billion dollars in 2020, with forecasts of a significant increase during this year thanks to the rise in the price of iron and gold.

  In addition, Mauritania will soon be a major producer of natural gas, from the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) field, which it shares with Senegal, but above all, the Birllah field, exclusively Mauritanian, and which would be worth around 4 times the declared reserves of GTA.

  The enhancement of the chain of exploitation of these resources (mining and gas) will undoubtedly increase financial income in both the public and private sectors. For the two sectors must work closely to have an inclusive and sustainable strategy capable of insuring the economic recovery.

  This strategy should be based primarily on the creation of factories for processing mining production, on stimulating industrial sectors, qualifying the workforce, continuing training and upgrading the skills of national companies.

   In this context, mining and oil operators must participate in this strategy by promoting local content. This will allow this economic recovery strategy to achieve its objectives in terms of job creation and maximization of benefits in the national economy.

    In recent years, Mauritania has made significant progress in this context, such as increasing the production and distribution of electricity, updating the legal framework, improving the attractiveness of the business climate, as well as the opening of some few establishments dedicated to the training and supervision of national skills.

   It is also necessary to make several decisive commitments in this direction, to add more value to the chain of exploitation of natural resources (mining and gas), in order to gradually transform the national economy from that of rentier state to a productive economy.