Gabon’s financial problems are increasingly showing up outside the country, with an eviction dispute involving its diplomatic representation in Paris unfolding alongside claims targeting state-owned property and a broader struggle to manage public debt.
One of the latest cases involves a property linked to Gabon’s diplomatic representation in France. The landlord has been seeking €9,749.13 from the Gabonese representation since November 2024 and is now pursuing eviction proceedings, according to Africa Intelligence. The amount is small compared with Gabon’s overall financial obligations, but the dispute is another sign of how the country’s financial difficulties can affect its diplomatic operations and contractual obligations abroad.
A much larger dispute surrounds the Hôtel de Pozzo di Borgo, a Paris mansion owned by the Gabonese state. Claimants Santullo-Sericom and Webcor ITP have been seeking hundreds of millions of euros in connection with earlier public contracts. Gabon contests those claims, and French courts previously set aside arbitral awards in the companies’ favor. An attempt to negotiate an out-of-court settlement in Libreville failed in August, leaving the dispute on a judicial track..
The property has become one of the most visible symbols of Gabon’s complicated financial legacy. The state acquired the Paris mansion in 2010 for about €100 million, during the presidency of Ali Bongo, and the asset is now at the center of a long-running legal battle.
Another dispute is putting pressure on Libreville from a different direction. South African fund Bosch Capital is seeking around $330 million from the Gabonese state over a claim acquired from Paramount Group. Gabon’s government rejects the claim, however, saying the state does not owe the fund the amount demanded. Bosch Capital disputes that position and says sovereign promissory notes remain unpaid. The $330 million should therefore be treated as a disputed claim rather than established government debt.
These cases are unfolding against a much broader fiscal problem. Gabon’s revised 2026 budget projects a financing gap of CFAF 915.6 billion (roughly $1,6 bln) and authorizes up to $1.5 billion in international borrowing. The government is also auditing public borrowing between 2016 and 2024 in search of undisclosed liabilities and other irregularities. Public debt is already above 70% of GDP, according to Reuters.
Credit markets are reflecting those concerns. Moody’s changed Gabon’s outlook to negative in June, citing significant financing needs, limited access to funding and the possibility of further debt accumulation. The agency kept the country’s rating at Caa2.
Taken separately, none of the Paris disputes explains Gabon’s wider financial position. Together, however, they show how fiscal pressure can extend beyond government budgets and bond markets into assets, contracts and legal disputes abroad.
That creates a difficult task for President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema’s government. Libreville is trying to attract new financing while auditing the legacy of past borrowing and defending the state against claims that it considers unjustified. At the same time, assets acquired during previous administrations can become liabilities when they are tied to unresolved contracts or creditor disputes.
Gabon’s challenge is therefore not simply to raise more money. It is to establish which obligations are valid, which assets can be protected or monetized, and how much of the financial burden inherited from previous years remains unresolved.
The disputes in France are only one part of that process. But they show that Gabon’s fiscal reckoning is no longer confined to Libreville.
