GDP at half potential due to confessional governance. World Bank saw moderate growth over the last two decades

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would have been at more than $100 billion instead of its current standing at $50 billion, if the country was not, during the last 25 years, under a confessional system, according to the World Bank. 

The World Bank’s report, ‘Promoting Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity’, published this month, estimated the cost of confessional governance per year at nine percent of the GDP, since the end of the Civil War.

GDP was estimated at $3 billion in the beginning of the 1990s, which means that with the current estimated annual loss due to confessional governance, the GDP would have grown by two to three times, stated the report.

Illegal activities are not punished by the State, when involving politically/confessionally connected and/or wealthy actors, which exacerbates elite capture and the pervasive patronage system, the report said. In addition, the report claimed that influence of economic stakeholders and personal connections or corruption by ‘ pulling strings’ are more likely to influence policy execution and enforcement of the rule of law. 

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