Sovereign Wealth Funds in Morocco and Gabon Face Defining Moments

Ten years after its restructuring, Morocco’s Ithmar Capital continues to grapple with an unclear strategic mandate, while Gabon’s strategic investment fund is attempting to redefine itself in the aftermath of the Bongo era, according to reporting by The Africa Report.

Morocco’s Ithmar Capital

Ithmar Capital, Morocco’s sovereign investment vehicle, was reorganised roughly a decade ago as part of a broader push to give the kingdom a more institutional approach to managing state-held strategic assets. The fund was designed to channel public investment into sectors deemed priorities for national development, acting as a bridge between public policy objectives and private capital markets.

According to The Africa Report, the institution has struggled over the intervening years to settle on a coherent purpose, oscillating between competing visions of what a Moroccan sovereign fund should do. The ambiguity has weighed on its capacity to deploy capital decisively or to build a recognisable track record, even as Rabat has continued to court foreign investors and pursue large infrastructure projects across the kingdom.

Gabon’s post-Bongo fund

Gabon’s strategic investment fund, the Fonds Souverain de la République Gabonaise, was created in 2012 under the presidency of Ali Bongo Ondimba to manage a portion of the oil-rich country’s resource revenues and channel them into diversification efforts. It became closely identified with the Bongo administration, which governed Gabon for more than five decades before being ousted in a military coup in August 2023.

The transitional authorities have signalled a willingness to reform state institutions associated with the previous regime, and the fund has emerged as one of the structures whose identity the new leadership is seeking to reshape. The Africa Report notes that doing so will require not only a new strategic direction but also a measure of credibility with international partners wary of opaque resource-backed vehicles.

Broader pattern

Both cases illustrate a familiar challenge for African sovereign wealth funds: balancing strategic development goals with the governance, transparency and performance discipline expected of long-term investment institutions. Whether Ithmar Capital and its Gabonese counterpart can resolve those tensions will help determine their relevance in the years ahead.

Sources

This report was written from coverage published by the following news organisations. Follow the links for the original reporting.

• The Africa Report — Sovereign wealth funds on turbulent trajectories in Morocco and Gabon