With a minimum investment threshold of US$100,000 and US$250,000, the following incentives are offered to domestic investors and foreign investors respectively.

Tax Holiday –  A newly established investment enterprise that falls within any priority investment category is granted a tax holiday with respect to its corporate or turnover tax and depreciation allowance.

Tariff and Import VAT Incentives –  A newly established investment enterprise that falls within any priority investment category is granted an import VAT waiver on imported specific goods as per the agreed list of items.

Export Promotion Incentives –  An investment enterprise located outside the export processing zone that exports at least 30% of its output is entitled to the following:

• 10% corporate or turnover tax concession for 5 years.
• Financial planning services and advice.
• Participation in training courses, seminars, and workshops.
• Export market research.
• Advertisement and publicity campaigns in foreign markets.
• Product design and consultancy

Zone Investor Incentives –  An investor operating in an Export Processing Zone and exports at least 80% of its outputs is exempt from payment of numerous duties and taxes, including import VAT waiver on imported goods/items, excise duty, import duty on capital equipment, corporate or turnover tax, municipal tax and depreciation allocation. 

SME Support. SMEs are entitled to the following facilities:

• Support for research and development.
• Income tax deposit waiver.
• Matching grants.
• Market survey and research support holders.
• Simplified administrative and business registration and custom procedures.

Market Access – The Gambia benefits from unrivalled access to a large and growing market:

• West Africa

The Gambia’s membership to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trading bloc ensures easy market access to over 300 million people

• International Markets

1. Well-functioning customs and port services.
2. Low import duties with duty waiver incentive scheme for GIEPA SIC and EPZL holders.
3. Simplified administrative and business registration and custom procedures

Competitive Labour Costs – cheap labour force, helping lower operational cost

• Abundant semi-skilled and unskilled labour force.
• Average wages at US$1.25 – US$2.50 a day (unskilled), which is substantially lower than many West African countries.

Industries

Energy 

The major energy resources in Gambia are firewood, electricity, petroleum imports, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). Due to the rapid population growth, demand for energy has far outstripped the ability of the state owned utility, NAWEC, to supply the country. However, there have been some appreciable achievements in the provision of electricity services in recent years.The government has established Gambia Renewable Energy Center (GREC) and seeks to collaborate with interested entities for the development of renewable energy through Research and Development. 

Agriculture 

Agriculture is the most important sector in The Gambian economy and one of the priority areas of development, particularly in the new global climate of price escalation of staple food items and oil.The Gambia has 558,000 hectares of very good quality arable land, of which only 200,000 hectares are currently under rain fed agricultural production.

ICT 

The Gambia recently has registered significant progress in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This has been spearheaded by the Government in mainstreaming ICT in all public activities to enhance socio-economic development goals. In view of this, the Ministry of Information and Communication and Infrastructure (MoICI) has taken significant strides in creating the conducive environment for sector player to operate and communication infrastructure policy, plans and strategies. It encompasses plans of action such as the e-government and other e-strategies. The Telecommunications Bill is also being developed to be enacted as the legal framework to further strengthen the enabling regulatory environment of the sector.

Fisheries 

The Gambia’s fisheries sector is internationally competitive as its marine and river waters are endowed with a multi-species fishery of high value demurrals, crustaceans, cephalopods and mollusks together with large quantities of pelagic (sardinella, red mullet, horse mackerel, cranx, shads, catfish, grunts, jacks, snappers etc). It has a continental shelf of 4,000 square kilometers and an Exclusive Economic (fishing) Zone (EEZ) of 19,500 square kilometers with an estimated fish yield of around 75,000 tonnes per annum and a current annual off-take of around 29,000 tonnes which is far less than the potential of the sector.

Light Manufacturing 

The Gambia’s manufacturing sector continues to be under exploited with limited concentration of interconnected manufacturing companies. The sector consists mainly of medium-sized enterprises located primarily in the urban and peri – urban area. The sector’s share of GDP continues to be low thus forming the basis of increased Government efforts to expand industrial production and development.

Tourism 

Tourism is undoubtedly the fasting growing sector in the Gambian economy. It is the biggest foreign exchange earner and is a major source of employment. Tourism accounts for about 16% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. There are great opportunities that can be exploited in the Tourism Sector. The number of hotels has increased from a couple when the industry began in 1960’s to nearly three dozen which are mostly dotted along our palm-fringed beaches. There is still considerable room for expansion. There are vast stretches of beautiful coastline available for the building of hotels and other tourism facilities in the Tourism Development Area. In this area, hotels of 4 and 5 star class will be given preference. The River Gambia is also open for the development of cruising, sport fishing and eco-tourism resorts.

Gambian Investment and Export Promotion Agency

Tel: +220 4377377 / 4377378

Email: info@giepa.gm