Everyone knows the dialectical link between employment and economic growth. Economic growth is a prerequisite for increasing productive employment; it is the combined result of increases in employment and labour productivity. 

In Benin, labour productivity is very low  and the country is not yet benefiting from the demographic dividend, with the majority of workers holding low-wage jobs. 

Productive employment being a priority for the Government, a national action plan has been drawn up and its implementation is underway. The action plan takes into account the challenges of the high rate of underemployment, low employability and dearth of youth entrepreneurship (girls and boys). It is also underpinned by the provision of services, particularly in the field of social protection, the application of regulations and the collection of public revenues to finance the supply of public goods.

Benin suffers from the lack of industrial infrastructure likely to promote its development. In addition, the Beninese research and innovation sector faces problems and constraints that keep the sector in a state of stagnation. The prevalence of the informal sector does not promote the emergence of competitiveness.

The vector of real structural transformation, the contribution of target 9.2 to the increase in GDP and employment, particularly in agro-industry, manufacturing, textiles, mines and hydrocarbons oil, is beneficial and  the harbinger of the economic emergence of Benin.

The Beninese economy, dominated by agriculture, is not very diversified and focuses mainly on 2 export products (cotton, cashew). The secondary sector contributes slightly (less than 20%) to GDP. Moreover, manufacturing industries remain largely undiversified despite the various policies and strategies implemented for the development of the sector since independence.

To this end, the Government has adopted the National Development Plan 2018-2025 which, in its application, has set itself the objective, among other things, of “Promoting sustainable industrialization that benefits everyone and, by 2030, significantly increases the contribution of 'industry to employment and the creation of wealth”.

The implementation of institutional reforms through the establishment of effective public institutions, and the improvement of transparency and accountability have been the driving forces behind the transformative dynamic initiated by Benin since 2016. The Governance Diagnosis carried out by the IMF in 2022 highlighted very positive developments linked to recent or ongoing reforms. Main areas of improvement are as follows: Public finance in terms of results-based management, tax policy in term of domestic tax collection and the rule of law in terms of the accessibility of legislation.

However, room for improvement remains, which seems to be mainly due to weaknesses in the legal and institutional framework for the fight against corruption, and an occasional lack of capacity or means.

In fact, in a spirit of continuity in terms of public sector performance, the Government has made the strengthening of public governance and the participation of the populations one of its major pillars of public action between now and 2030.