SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: Waiting for the oil boom

“When the oil money comes in we are going to build a bridge here.”

Once the big inflow of oil revenues to government coffers does start – probably sometime between 2015 and 2017 – Sao Tome may well receive several hundred million dollars per year.

That would turn it overnight into one of the richest countries in Africa, at least on the basis of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.