2023 Investment Climate Statements: Guinea

Policies Towards Foreign Direct Investment

Former President Conde’s government had adopted a strong, positive attitude toward foreign direct investment (FDI), an approach that has been echoed by the transition government. In the face of budget shortfalls and low commodity prices, both former President Conde’s government and the transition government have expressed hope FDI will help diversify the economy, spur GDP growth, and provide reliable employment. To that end, former President Conde’s government reduced land transfer fees, and improved procedures for import and construction permits. Guinea does not discriminate against foreign investors, with the exception of a prohibition on foreign media ownership. One area of concern is that mining companies have negotiated different taxation rates despite mining code requirements. In some instances, short-term tax breaks end up being costly for the investor as they are then expected to “contribute” resources like electrical energy or roadbuilding as an informal quid pro quo for the lighter tax burden. According to the 2022 World Investment Report, FDI into Guinea decreased from USD 176 million in 2020 to 173 million in 2021. The Chambre des Mines (Chamber of Mines) serves as a government-sanctioned advisory organization that includes Guinea’s major mining firms. Guinea’s Agency for the Promotion of Private Investment (APIP) provides support in the following areas:

• Create and register businesses;
• Facilitate access to incentives offered under the investment code;
• Provide information and resources to potential investors;
• Publish targeted sector studies and statistics;
• Provide training and technical assistance; and
• Facilitate solutions for investors in Guinea’s interior.

Since the September 2021 coup d’état, APIP falls under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Small and Medium Enterprises.

More information about APIP can be found at: http://apip.gov.gn/ 

Limits on Foreign Control and Right to Private Ownership and Establishment

Investors can register under one of four categories of business in Guinea. More information on the four types of business registration is available at http://invest.gov.gn/page/create-your-company . There are no general limits on foreign ownership or control, and 100 percent ownership by foreign firms is legal in most sectors. Foreign ownership of print media, radio, and television stations is not permitted. The 2013 Mining Code gives the government the right to a 15 percent interest in any major mining operation in Guinea (the government decides when an operation has become large enough to qualify). Mining and media notwithstanding, there are no sector-specific restrictions that discriminate against market access for foreign investment. Despite this lack of official discrimination, many enterprises have discovered the licensing process to be laden with bureaucratic delays that are usually dealt with by paying consultant fees to help expedite matters. The U.S. Embassy may be able to advocate on behalf of American companies when it is aware of excessive delays.

According to the Investment Code, the inter-ministerial Investment Review Committee has a role in reviewing requests for approval of foreign investment and for monitoring companies’ efforts to comply with investment obligations. APIP hosts the secretariat for this committee, which grants investment approvals and verifies investment conformity with the Investment Code. The government gives approved companies, especially industrial firms, the use of the land necessary for projects, with the duration and conditions of use set out in the terms of the approval. The land and associated buildings belong to the State but can also be rented by or transferred to another firm with government approval.

Other Investment Policy Reviews

There has been no investment policy review conducted by the UN Conference on Trade and Development or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development within the past several years. The World Trade Organization (WTO) last conducted a review of Guinea in 2018. The 2018 report can be viewed here: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp470_e.htm .

Business Facilitation

APIP promotes investment, helps register businesses, assists with the expansion of local companies, and works to improve the local business climate. APIP maintains an online guide for potential investors in Guinea (http://apip.gov.gn/). Business registration can be completed in person at APIP’s offices in Conakry and across the country. An online platform is available to notaries: https://synergui.apipguinee.com/fr/utilisateurs/register/ . The only internationally accredited business facilitation organization that assesses Guinea is the Global Enterprise Registration (GER.co), which gives Guinea’s business creation/investment website a 6/10 rating for 2021. It takes roughly seventy-two hours to register a business. APIP’s services are available to both Guinean and foreign investors. The “One Stop Shop” at APIP’s Conakry office can provide small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with requisite registration numbers, including tax administration numbers and social security numbers. Notaries are required for the creation of any other type of enterprise.

An SME in Guinea is defined as a business with less than 50 employees and revenue less than 500 million Guinean francs (GNF) (around USD 50,000). SMEs are taxed at a yearly fixed rate of GNF 15 million (USD 1,500). Administrative modalities are simplified and funneled through the “One Stop Shop.”

Outward Investment

Guinea does not formally promote outward investment, though the government does not restrict domestic investors from investing abroad.

Transparency of the Regulatory System

Since February 2022, the National Transition Council (CNT) has served as Guinea’s legislative body, tasked by the CNRD to draft a new constitution and recommend an electoral timeline to return to democratic and civilian rule. All laws relevant to international investors are posted (in French) on invest.gov.gn. When investing, it is important to engage with all levels of government to ensure each authority is aware of expectations and responsibilities on both sides.

Guinea has had an independent Supreme Audit Institution since 2016. The institution is charged with making available information on public finances. The institution presented its first 2016 activities report in January 2018. The institution presented the 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 activities report to the President of CNT in February 2022.

Guinea’s 2013 amended Mining Code commits the country to increasing transparency in the mining sector. In the code, the government commits to awarding mining contracts by competitive tender and to publish all past, current, and future mining contracts for public scrutiny. Members of mining sector governing bodies and employees of the Ministry of Mines are prohibited from owning shares in mining companies active in Guinea or their subcontractors. Each mining company must sign a code of good conduct and develop and implement a corruption-monitoring plan. There is a public database of mining contracts designed by the Natural Resource Governance Institute ( http://www.contratsminiersguinee.org/ ).

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) ensures greater transparency in the governance of Guinea’s natural resources and full disclosure of government revenues from its extractives sector. The EITI standard aims to provide a global set of conditions to ensure greater transparency of the management of a country’s oil, gas, and mineral resources. EITI reiterates the need to augment support for countries and governments that are making genuine efforts to address corruption but lack the capacity and systems necessary to manage the businesses, revenues, and royalties derived from extractive industries effectively. Guinea requires mining companies to file environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures.

Guinea was accepted as EITI compliant by the international EITI Board at its meeting in Mexico City on July 2, 2014. As an EITI country, Guinea must disclose the government’s revenues from natural resources. Guinea completed its most recent report in April 2022 for the 2019-2020 reporting period. The report is located at: https://eiti.org/documents/guinea-2019-2020-eiti-report 

While Guinea’s laws promote free enterprise and competition, there is often a lack of transparency in the law’s application. Business owners openly assert that application procedures are sufficiently opaque to allow for corruption, and regulatory activity is often instigated due to personal interests.

Every year Guinea publishes budget documents and debt obligations. The yearly enacted budgets are published online at: https://mbudget.gov.gn/lois-de-finances/ .

International Regulatory Considerations

Guinea has historically been a member of ECOWAS, but not a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and as such has its own currency. At the beginning of 2017, Guinea adopted ECOWAS’s Common Exterior Tariff (TEC), which harmonizes Guinea’s import taxes with other West African states and eliminates the need for assessing import duties at Guinea’s land border crossings, though, sometimes it is difficult to get the required certificates to export under these ECOWAS exemptions. Guinea is a member of the WTO and is not party to any trade disputes. Since the September 2021 coup, the African Union and ECOWAS have suspended Guinea’s memberships.

Legal System and Judicial Independence

The legal system handles domestic cases involving foreign investors. Guinea’s legal system is codified and largely based upon French civil law. Under former President Conde, the judicial system was reported to be generally understaffed, corrupt, and opaque. Accounting practices and bookkeeping in Guinean courts are frequently unreliable. U.S. businesspersons should exercise extreme caution when negotiating contract arrangements and do so with proper local legal representation. Although the current transition charter, former constitution, and laws provide for an independent judiciary, in practice, the judicial system lacks independence and is underfunded, inefficient, and portrayed as corrupt in the local press. Budget shortfalls, a shortage of qualified lawyers and magistrates, nepotism, and ethnic bias contribute to the judiciary’s challenges.

After the September 2021 coup, Guinea’s penal and civil code remains in force. The transition government maintained the existing legal structure and stated that “justice will be the compass guiding every Guinean citizen.” Transition President COL Doumbouya created the Court to Repress Economic and Financial Crimes (CRIEF) to handle cases involving embezzlement, corruption, and misuse of public funds over one billion GNF (approximately $110,000) in December 2021.

There are few international investment lawyers accredited in Guinea and it is a best practice to include international arbitration clauses in all major contracts. U.S. companies have identified the absence of a dependable legal system as a major barrier to investment. Despite dispute settlement procedures set forth in Guinean law, business executives complain of the glacial pace of the adjudication of business disputes. Most legal cases take years and significant legal fees to resolve. In speaking with local business leaders, the general sentiment is that any resolution occurring within three to five years might be considered quick.

In many cases, the government does not meet payment obligations to private suppliers of goods and services, either foreign or Guinean, in a timely fashion. Arrears to the private sector are a major issue that is often ignored. There is no independent enforcement mechanism for collecting debts from the government, although some contracts have international arbitration clauses. The government, while bound by law to honor judgments made by the arbitration court, often actively influences the decision itself.

Although the situation has improved recently, Guinean, and foreign business executives have publicly expressed concern over the rule of law in the country. In 2014, high-ranking members of the military harassed foreign managers of a telecommunications company because they did not renew a contract. American businesses experience long delays in getting required signatures and approvals from government ministries, and in some cases the presidency, under both former President Conde’s government and the transition government. Some businesses have been subject to sporadic harassment from tax authorities and demands for donations from military and police personnel.

Laws and Regulations on Foreign Direct Investment

The National Assembly ratified an Investment Code regulating FDI in May 2015. Developed in cooperation with the Work Bank and IMF, the code harmonizes Guinea’s FDI regulations with other countries in the region and broadens the definition of FDI. The code also allows for direct agreements between investors and the State. Other important legislation related to FDI includes the Procurement Code, the BOT (Build Operate Transfer, now Public Private Partnership or PPP) Law, and the Customs Code. An October 2017 Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) law replaced the earlier BOT law, providing a clearer, updated, and more secure legal, regulatory, and institutional framework for PPP projects. Guinea’s investment promotion agency has a website ( www.invest.gov.gn ) to increase transparency and streamline investment procedures.

APIP launched a website in 2016 that lists information related to laws, rules, procedures, and registration requirements for foreign investors, as well as strategy documents for specific sectors http://invest.gov.gn . Further information on APIP’s services is available at https://apip.gov.gn/ . APIP has a bilingual (English and French) staff and is designed to be a clearinghouse of information for investors.

Competition and Antitrust Laws

There are no agencies that review transactions for competition-related concerns.

Expropriation and Compensation

Guinea’s Investment Code states that the government will not take any steps to expropriate or nationalize investments made by individuals and companies, except for reasons of public interest. It also promises fair compensation for expropriated property.

In 2011, the former President Conde’s government claimed full ownership of several languishing industrial facilities in which it had previously held partial shares as part of several joint ventures—including a canned food factory and processing plants for peanuts, tea, mangoes, and tobacco—with no compensation to the private sector partner. Each of these facilities was privatized under opaque circumstances in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By expropriating these businesses, which the Conde government deemed to be corrupt and/or ineffective, and putting them to public auction, Guinea hoped to correct past mistakes and put the assets in more productive hands. During the 1990s, a U.S. investor acquired a 67 percent stake in an explosives and munitions factory from a Canadian entity. The Guinean government owned the remaining 33 percent. From 2000 to 2008, the government halted manufacturing at the factory, nationalizing the factory in 2010.

While there had not been recent large-scale expropriation cases by the end of former President Conde’s administration, some mining concession contracts have had their initial award revoked and were sold to another bidder. In 2008, the previous regime of Lansana Conte stripped Rio Tinto of 50 percent of its concession of the Simandou iron ore mine and sold it to another company. Since March 2022, the transition government has seized property believed to belong to the state and inappropriately sold under former Presidents Toure, Conte, and Conde’s governments, in some cases demolishing houses and buildings on the disputed land before legal challenges were exhausted.

Dispute Settlement

ICSID Convention and New York Convention

Guinea is a member of the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an autonomous institution established under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of other States ( https://icsid.worldbank.org/en/Pages/about/default.aspx ). Guinea is also a member of the New York Convention, which applies to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and the referral by a court to arbitration. Guinea has no specific domestic legislation providing for enforcement of awards under the 1958 New York Convention and/or under the ICSID Convention ( http://www.newyorkconvention.org ).

Investor-State Dispute Settlement

The Investment Code states that the competent Guinean judicial authorities shall settle disputes arising from interpretation of the Code in accordance with the law and regulations and provides several avenues by which to seek arbitration. In practice, however, fair settlements may be difficult to obtain. The transition charter mandates an independent judiciary, although many business owners and high-level government officials frequently claim that poorly trained magistrates, high levels of corruption, and nepotism plague the administration of justice. Guinea established an arbitration court in 1999, independent of the Ministry of Justice, to settle business disputes in a less costly and more expedient manner. The Arbitration Court is based upon the French system, in which arbitrators are selected from among the Guinean business sector, rather than from among lawyers or judges, and are supervised by the Chamber of Commerce. All parties must agree for their case to be settled in the arbitration court. In general, Guinea’s arbitration court has a better reputation than the judicial court system for settling business disputes.

International Commercial Arbitration and Foreign Courts

Guinea is a member of the Organisation pour l’Harmonisation du Droit des Affaires en Afrique (Organization for the Harmonization of Commercial Law in Africa), known by its French initials, OHADA, which allows investors to appeal legal decisions on commercial and financial matters to a regional body based in Abidjan. The organization also seeks to harmonize commercial law, debt collection, bankruptcy, and secured transactions throughout the OHADA region. The treaty superseded the Code of Economic Activities and other national commercial laws when it was ratified in 2000, though many of the substantive changes to Guinean law have yet to be implemented. U.S. companies seeking to do business in Guinea should be aware that under OHADA, managers may be held personally liable for corporate wrongdoing. See the OHADA website for specific OHADA rules and regulations ( http://www.ohada.com ).

Bankruptcy Regulations

Guinea, as a member of OHADA, has the same bankruptcy laws as most West African francophone countries. OHADA’s Uniform Act on the Organization of Securities enforces collective proceedings for writing off debts and defines bankruptcy in articles 227 to 233. The Uniform Act also distinguishes fraudulent from non-fraudulent bankruptcies. There is no distinction between foreign and domestic investors. The only distinction made is a privilege ranking that defines which claims must be paid first from the bankrupt company’s assets. Articles 180 to 190 of OHADA’s Uniform Act define which creditors are entitled to priority compensation. Bankruptcy is only criminalized when it occurs due to fraudulent actions and leaves criminal penalties to national authorities. Non-fraudulent bankruptcy is adjudicated through the Uniform Act.

Investment Incentives

The Investment Code provides preferential tax treatment for investments meeting certain criteria (See Screening of FDI). Some mining companies currently benefit from preferential tax treatment. Other exemptions can be agreed to during contract negotiations with the government. The government’s priority investments categories include promotion of small- and medium-sized Guinean businesses, development of non-traditional exports, processing of local natural resources and local raw materials, and establishment of activities in economically less developed regions. Priority activities include agricultural promotion, especially of food, and rural development; commercial farming involving processing and packaging; livestock, especially when coupled with veterinary services; fisheries; fertilizer production, chemical or mechanical preparation and processing industries for vegetable, animal, or mineral products; health and education-related businesses; tourism facilities and hotel operations; socially beneficial real estate development; and investment banks or any credit institutions settled outside specified population centers. Detailed information on each of these opportunities is available at http://invest.gov.gn 

Neither former President Conde’s government nor the transition government provide incentives for businesses owned by underrepresented investors, such as women.

Foreign Trade Zones/Free Ports/Trade Facilitation

Guinea currently has no foreign trade zones or free ports. In 2017, a presidential decree created a special economic zone in the Boke corridor of western Guinea, though this has yet to be operationalized.

Performance and Data Localization Requirements

Under the revised 2013 Mining Code, mining companies are required to employ Guinean citizens as a certain percentage of their staff, to eventually transition to a Guinean country director, and to award a certain percentage of contracts to Guinean-owned firms. The percentage varies based on employment category and the chronological phase of the project. The Mining Code requires that 20 percent of senior managers be Guinean; however, the Code does not define what constitutes senior management. The Code also aims to liberalize mining development and promote investment. In 2013, the Code called for the creation of a Mining Promotion and Development Center, a One Stop Shop for mining administrative processes for investors, which opened in May 2016. Guinea has no forced localization policy related to the use of domestic content in goods or technology, and there are no requirements for foreign IT providers to turn over source code or provide access to surveillance or to store data within Guinea.

The transition government has prioritized the need for significant local content in all government procurements, passing a law codifying local content requirements in September 2022. The law requires significant local employment throughout companies with government contracts to support skill transfer and economic integration. The law also includes minimum requirements to use local suppliers for service contracts.

Real Property

The Estate and Land Tenure Code of 1992 provides a legal base for documentation of property ownership. Mortgages are nearly non-existent in Guinea. As with ownership of business enterprises, both foreign and Guinean individuals have the right to own property. However, enforcement of these rights depends upon an inefficient Guinean legal and administrative system. It is not uncommon for the same piece of land to have several overlapping deeds. Furthermore, land sales and business contracts generally lack transparency. Only about 2.5 percent of the population has title to real property. The Ministry of Urban Development, Housing, and Regional Planning is developing an online platform that will facilitate the registration of land titles and reduce waiting times to about five days. The Ministry of Urban Development, Housing, and Regional Planning launched the Building Permit One-Stop-Shop in February 2022 to reduce building permit procurement processing ( https://habitatguinee.org/permis-de-construire-2/ ).

Intellectual Property Rights

Guinea is not included in the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Special 301 Report or the Notorious Markets List.

Guinea is a member of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). OAPI is a signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and several other intellectual property treaties. Guinea modified its intellectual property rights (IPR) laws in 2000 to bring them into line with established international standards. There have been no formal complaints filed on behalf of American companies concerning IPR infringement in Guinea. However, it is not certain that an affirmative IPR judgment would be enforceable, given the general lack of law enforcement capability. The Property Rights office in Guinea is severely understaffed and underfunded. For additional information about national laws and points of contact at local IP offices, please see WIPO’s country profiles at https://www.wipo.int/directory/en/contact.jsp?country_id=67&type=ADMIN .

Capital Markets and Portfolio Investment

Commercial credit for private enterprises is difficult and expensive to obtain in Guinea. The FY 2023 Millennium Challenge Corporation score for Access to Credit in Guinea reached 46 percent, increasing from 30 percent in FY 2022.

Guinea adopted a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law in 1998, but the law was never fully implemented as the government failed to adopt the decree necessary for its implementation.  An October 2017 Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) law replaced the earlier BOT law, providing a clearer, updated, and more secure legal, regulatory, and institutional framework for PPP projects.  Guinea’s investment promotion agency has a website ( www.invest.gov.gn  to increase transparency and streamline investment procedures.  However, in practice, businesses often wait months or years to receive final approvals from one ministry or another or the President, depending on the sector.  Guinea’s capacity to enforce its more investor-friendly laws is compromised by a weak and unreliable legal system.  Some especially large-scale enterprises or extractives industry firms must wait for final permission from the President himself to begin operations.  These facts make personal relationships with high-ranking officials desirable and indeed generally essential, though as mentioned above, this brings the risk of a project’s becoming associated with specific individuals or administrations, and thus subject to subsequent rescission.

Guinea updated its Investment Code in 2015 and renewed efforts to attract international investors. The Investment Code allows income derived from investment in Guinea, the proceeds of liquidating that investment, and the compensation paid in the event of nationalization, to be transferred to any country in convertible currency. The legal and regulatory procedures, based on French civil law, are not always applied uniformly or transparently.

Individuals or legal entities making foreign investments in Guinea are guaranteed the freedom to transfer the original foreign capital, profits resulting from investment, capital gains on disposal of investment, and fair compensation paid in the case of nationalization or expropriation of the investment to any country of their choice. The Guinean franc is subject to a managed floating exchange rate. The few commercial banks in Guinea are dependent on the Central Bank (BCRG) for foreign exchange liquidity, making large transfers of foreign currency difficult, though a robust informal foreign exchange market eases some of the difficulty.

Laws governing takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, and cross-shareholding are limited to rules for documenting financial transactions and filing any change of status documents with the economic register. There are no laws or regulations that specifically authorize private firms to adopt articles of incorporation that limit or prohibit investment.

Money and Banking System

Guinea’s financial system is small and dominated by the banking sector. It comprises 20 active banks, 13 insurance companies and 20 microfinance institutions. Guinea’s banking sector is overseen by the Central Bank (BCRG), which also serves as the agent of the government treasury for overseeing banking and credit operations in Guinea and abroad. The BCRG manages foreign exchange reserves on behalf of the State. The Office of Technical Assistance of the Department of the Treasury assessed that Guinea does not properly manage debt and that its treasury is too involved in the process, although improvements made in 2017-2018 point to a better future. Further information on the BCRG can be found in French at http://www.bcrg-guinee.org .

Due to the difficulty of accessing funding from commercial banks, small commercial and agricultural enterprises have increasingly turned to microfinance, which has been growing rapidly with a net increase in deposits and loans. The quality of products in the microfinance sector remains mediocre, with bad debt accounting for 10 percent of loans with approximately six percent of gross loans outstanding.

Guinea plans to broaden the country’s small and medium enterprises (SME) base through investment climate reform, improved access to finance, and the establishment of SME growth corridors. Severely limited access to finance (especially for SMEs), inadequate infrastructure, deficiencies in logistics and trade facilitation, corruption and the diminished capacity of the government, inflation, and poor education of the workforce has seriously undermined investor confidence in Guinean institutions. Guinea’s weak enabling environment for business, its history of poor governance, erratic policy, and inconsistent regulatory enforcement exacerbate the country’s poor reputation as an investment destination. As a result, private participation in the economy remains low and firms’ productivity measured by value added is one of the lowest in Africa. Firms’ links with the financial sector are weak: only 3.9 percent of firms surveyed in the 2016 World Bank Enterprise survey had a bank loan.

Credit to the private sector is low, at around 10 percent of GDP in 2022. Commercial banks are reluctant to extend loans due to the lack of credit history reporting for potential borrowers. Through the Central Bank, Guinea is in the process of establishing a credit information bureau to overcome this asymmetry of credit information. Despite the pandemic and September 2021 coup, the banking sector remains liquid and solvent with limited credit available to the private sector. Heavy government borrowing drained the excess liquidity and crowded out private sector credit in 2021, though the partial repayment of government arrears in 2022 made room for banks to provide new credit. Despite the COVID-19 slowdown and political instability, private sector credit grew by 13.6 percent on average from January to August 2022.

Guinea is a cash-based society driven by trade, agriculture, and the informal sector, which all function outside the banking sector. The banking sector is highly concentrated in Conakry and is technologically behind. Banks in Guinea tend to favor short-term lending at high interest rates. In collaboration with the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance, the Central Bank began planning to implement a bank deposit insurance scheme. In 2019, the Central Bank set the deposit coverage limit at 85 million GNF (approximately USD 10,000) and began to collect premiums from commercial banks. The Central Bank has plans to progressively increase the deposit coverage limit to 120 million GNF (approximately USD 14,000) in the years to come.

While the microfinance sector grew strongly from a small base, it was hit hard during the 2014-2016 Ebola crisis. Currently it is not generally profitable and needs capacity and technology upgrades. Furthermore, many microfinance institutions struggle to meet higher minimum capital requirements imposed by the Central Bank since 2019. This heightened financial hurdle will likely lead to a consolidation of the microfinance sector. The efficiency and use of payment services by all potential users needs to be improved, with an emphasis on greater financial inclusion.

The penetration of digital cellphone fund transfers is increasing. Six foreign e-money (or mobile banking) institutions offer services to digitize payments and improve access to financial services in underserved and rural segments of the population, with a seventh company considering operations in Guinea. Nonetheless, many operations processed by these e-money institutions remain cash-in cash-out transactions within a single network.

To modernize payment methods, the transition government is continuing an initiative of former President Conde’s administration to implement a national switch — a nationwide platform that will interface all electronic payment systems and facilitate payment processing between service providers. The Central Bank selected a service provider and will operationalize the national switch in June 2023.

Generally, there are no restrictions on foreigners’ ability to establish bank accounts in Guinea. EcoBank is the preferred bank for most U.S. dealings with Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act (FACTA) reporting requirements. With the acquisition of a majority stake in BICIGUI (Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie de la Guinee) in July 2021, Vista Bank (now VistaGui after the acquisition) became the largest bank in Guinea, a first on the African continent for a U.S.-owned financial institution.

Foreign Exchange and Remittances

Foreign Exchange

There are no restrictions or limitations placed on foreign investors for converting, transferring, or repatriating funds associated with an investment. Although there have been no recent changes to remittance policies, it is difficult to obtain foreign exchange in Guinea. Guinea has experienced significantly weakened liquidity levels over the last several years due to government mismanagement, populist policies, corruption, and a decrease in mining revenue due to lower global commodity prices. Commercial banks’ liquidity levels are affected by tight reserve requirements (lowered from 16 to 15 percent of deposits in of March 2022) that are in line with IMF performance criteria.

Until December 2015, the exchange rate was managed by the Central Bank (BCRG) and held to a four percent variance from the unofficial rate. Between 2013 and 2015, the Guinean franc maintained a value of between 7,000 and 7,500 GNF/USD. A weakened economy resulting from low commodity prices caused the GNF to depreciate from an average of 7,000 GNF/USD in early 2015. In late 2015, the unofficial rate reached a value ten percent higher than the official rate, during which time Guinea nearly exhausted its foreign currency reserves. The IMF recommended the BCRG float the GNF, and the official rate jumped to over 9,000 GNF/USD by March 2016. Since 2020, the BCRG has limited its intervention in the foreign exchange market and implemented a rules-based intervention strategy for a de-jure managed float regime, though additional information on how the BCRG is implementing this regime is required for the IMF to change its de facto classification from crawl-like. This monetary policy has targeted preserving liquidity in the banking sector while containing inflation.

More recently, the GNF gradually depreciated from around 9,400 GNF/USD in early 2020 to 10,098 GNF/USD in February 2021 before leveling off to approximately 9,700 GNF to one U.S. dollar from May to October 2021. Beginning in mid-October 2021, the GNF began appreciating against the U.S. dollar, which has continued through August 2022. As of April 2023, the GNF exchange rate against the U.S. dollar has held steady at approximately 8,500 GNF/USD since August 2022.

Remittance Policies

Guinea has no limitations on the conversion and transfer of money or the repatriation of capital and earnings, including branch profits, dividends, interest, royalties, or management or technical service fees. The Central Bank (BCRG) needs to be informed of any major transfers, and the wait time to remit investment returns is less than 60 days. Guinea is a member of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa but is not included on the Financial Action Task Force.

There are no limits on the conversion of U.S. dollars to Guinean francs.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

Guinea does not have a sovereign wealth fund.

Privatization Program

The transition government is continuing the former Conde administration’s initiative to privatize the energy sector. In February 2020, EDG became a public limited company with its own board of directors. The new directors were appointed by former President Conde through decree, replaced with a new Board of Directors with a decree from Transition President COL Doumbouya in February 2022.

Bidding processes are clearly spelled out for potential bidders; however, Guinea gives weight to competence in the French language and experience working on similar projects in West Africa. In spring 2015, a U.S. company lost a fiber optics tender largely due to its lack of native French speakers on the project and lack of regional experience.

Additional Resources

Department of State

• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices ( https://www.state.gov/reports-bureau-of-democracy-human-rights-and-labor/country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/)
• Trafficking in Persons Report ( https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/)
• Guidance on Implementing the “UN Guiding Principles” for Transactions Linked to Foreign Government End-Users for Products or Services with Surveillance Capabilities ( https://www.state.gov/key-topics-bureau-of-democracy-human-rights-and-labor/due-diligence-guidance/)
• U.S. National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises ( https://www.state.gov/u-s-national-contact-point-for-the-oecd-guidelines-for-multinational-enterprises/)
• Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory ( https://www.state.gov/xinjiang-supply-chain-business-advisory/)

Department of the Treasury

• OFAC Recent Actions ( https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions )

Department of Labor

• Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor Report ( https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings  )
• List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor ( https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods )
• Sweat & Toil: Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking Around the World ( https://www.dol.gov/general/apps/ilab )
• Comply Chain ( https://www.dol.gov/ilab/complychain/ )

Climate Issues

Guinea ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1993 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2005. Guinea prepared an Initial National Communication in 2001 to inventory greenhouse gases (GHG), based on emissions in 1994. A second GHG inventory was completed in 2011, based on 2000 emissions. Guinea prepared its National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) in 2007 and undertook several projects to implement the plan. Prior to COP21 in Paris in December 2015, Guinea submitted an Intended National Contribution Determination in September 2015, committing to a 13 percent decrease in GHG emissions by 2030, as compared to 1994 emission levels. In preparation for COP26 in Edinburgh in November 2021, Guinea prepared a Nationally Determined Contribution in July 2021, making a commitment to a 17 percent reduction target across sectors, potentially reaching a 49 percent reduction by 2030 by including land-use and forestry. Guinea has not yet prepared a National Adaptation Plan.

As of April 2023, Guinea does not offer any regulatory incentives to achieve policy outcomes that preserve climate change benefits, nor do public procurement policies include environmental and green growth considerations.

Resources to Report Corruption

Contact at the government agency or agencies that are responsible for combating corruption:

National Agency to Fight Corruption (ANLC)
Cite des Nations, Villa 20, Conakry, Guinea
Saikou Amadou Diallo, Executive Secretary
+224 628 85 76 74
+224 663 12 26 52
www.anlc.org.gn
alerte.corruption@anlc.org.gn 

Contact at a “watchdog” organization:
Transparency International
Dakar, Senegal
+221-33-842-40-44
forumcivil@orange.sn 

Guinea Association for Transparency
Oumar Kanah Diallo, President
+224 622 404 142
okandiallo77@gmail.com 
agtguinee224@gmail.com