The political situation
The Third Republic established by the 1992 constitution is presidential and pluralist. The president is elected for a five-year term and appoints a prime minister who is invested by a People's Assembly composed of deputies elected for a five-year term, which shares legislative power with a Senate. Senators are elected for four years by indirect vote. The judiciary is independent (at least officially): it is separated into the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court.
The presidential elections in December 2018 consecrated the former mayor of Tananarive, Andry Nirina Rajoelina, for a five-year term. New elections are scheduled for November 2023.
The Fokonolona is the country's fundamental institution, representing the "people's assembly." It is a local authority whose origins go back to before the 15th century and which is present in the neighborhoods and villages, a truly democratic assembly in which the entire population participates and directly elects the members of the council and the president. In daily life, it is more present than the state, the Fanjakana, which seems inaccessible. For smart travelers, a visit to the Fokonolona facilitates exchanges with the population. When visiting a village, the president of the Fokonolona will gladly support the visitors. Thus, they are quickly familiarized with the legends and the oral tradition.
After the Fokonolona, the basic territorial unit is the Fokontany, which represents several villages. The Fokontanys are grouped into Firaisanas which are themselves grouped into Fivondronanas. These decentralized institutions were implemented from the beginning of the Second Republic, in 1975.
Economy
Madagascar is a developing country. The political crisis of 2009 interrupted a period of economic growth that began in 2003. Recovery began after the political transition (2009-2013), but it remains insufficient to ensure real development of the country and its population. In 2021, the country is ranked 173rd out of 191 countries, according to the annual UNDP Human Development Index (HDI). Social inequalities - more than 80% of the population live below the US$2 a day poverty line - and geographic inequalities - 80% of the population live in rural areas, sometimes very isolated - are marked.
Poverty is a daily reality, as is scarcity and even famine. Seven Malagasy out of ten who live in rural areas still have the same needs: to feed the family, to have access to drinking water, to primary health care, to send their children to school, to reforest the regions bordering their villages, or to improve the distribution and sale of their products. One example among others of the difficulties of life: in certain urban districts, water cuts regularly last up to three days and are unfortunately recurrent. Throughout the country, rural people expect nothing from the State, the political class, or the "economic operators. The Malagasy are also aware of the generalized corruption, which deprives them of the wealth (however great) of their country.
A country of agriculture and breeding
Land occupies eight out of ten Malagasy. Family farming, cooperatives, large farms, public, mixed or private companies... In Madagascar, there are many production methods, but this important sector is at the mercy of recurrent natural disasters. The main products are paddy (raw, unhulled rice) and cassava as food crops; coffee, cloves, litchis and vanilla as agricultural exports; sugar cane and cotton as industrial exports.
Madagascar is the most rice consuming country in the world. A meal without rice is inconceivable, and Malagasy rice is essentially intended for national consumption. Under these conditions, any suitable area is transformed into a rice field.
Madagascar is the world's leading producer of vanilla, the main source of export revenue, supported by exceptionally high prices and strong demand. Fishing is also an important source of foreign exchange.
Zebu breeding is a national asset and Malagasy zebus have long been sold in cellophane in supermarkets in Europe and South Africa. One cannot evoke the Malagasy zebus without speaking about the Dahalo. This people, originally composed of Antandroy and Bara people, traditionally practiced the occasional theft of zebus to prove their courage and to provide a dowry for marriages. Losing any link with this original practice, this occasional theft has turned into organized theft and even real banditry, these thefts probably being instrumentalized by mafias. The problem is now major. Indeed, for a Malagasy farmer, a zebu is equivalent to almost a year's salary and the Dahalo today pose a security problem that no government has managed to solve.
Other parts of the economy
The Malagasy subsoil conceals numerous deposits, many of them unexploited. Gold, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, crystals, amethysts, aquamarines... and even diamonds according to the latest studies. Mining is one of the axes of industrial development envisaged by the authorities.
Nowadays, most of the industries are related to agricultural products: rice mills, starch factories, oil mills, sugar mills. Others are intended for spinning, weaving (cotton or sisal), clothing... Extractive industries export graphite, mica, garnet and chromite from Andriamena, while the Toamasina refinery, by transforming imported oil, covers the country's domestic needs.
The main export activities thus revolve around these sectors: textiles-clothing, aquaculture, fishing, tourism, lychees, vanilla and coffee. The textile industry continues to be the main source of employment.The place of tourism
Madagascar could be a major destination for international tourism: it benefits from a superb nature and resources allowing the most diverse formulas: cultural tourism, sports, leisure, discovery, or "adventure".
However, visits are constantly decreasing. This sector was one of the most dynamic between the crises of 2002 and 2009, particularly in 2008: 375,000 tourist arrivals were recorded that year, before falling to 163,000 in 2009. Since then, tourism activity remained fragile with an upturn to 350,000 arrivals, before being hit hard, as everywhere in the world, by the health crisis.
In 2019, the government of Andry Rajoelina expressed a desire to develop the luxury hotel industry, opening vacation clubs and high-end establishments in idyllic locations. Even if the projects have been slowed down by the health crisis, let's ask ourselves the question: what face does Madagascar want to have in 20 years? Can we develop luxury tourism in a country where over 70% of the population lives below the poverty line? It is obvious that a balanced, conscious and responsible tourism is a factor of sustainable development for a country; but, where the fractures are too wide, the needs too obvious, it can also produce imbalances and instabilities.
Current issues
According to the World Bank, Madagascar's development prospects remain constrained by "low growth potential and exposure to frequent, deep and persistent crises."
Between 2013 and the onset of the Covid crisis, annual growth was about 3.5 percent. The World Bank (source banquemondiale.org) tells us that this growth then experienced a severe recession, three times stronger than the average for other sub-Saharan African countries. The reasons for this are the consequences of the health crisis on various sectors such as mining, tourism, transport and services. In addition, droughts have aggravated the overall situation. The Covid crisis has negated more than ten years of growth in Madagascar's per capita income.
Growth had a slight revival in 2021, but the momentum has not been transformed, due to climatic disorders and the consequences of the war in Ukraine (effects on the economic outlook in Europe, Mada's main partner)
With an extremely young population, no investment is made in education, which has deteriorated profoundly in recent years. 97% of Malagasy children aged 10 are today unable to read and understand a short text adapted to their age.
Finally, how can we not mention deforestation? Since the 1960s, thousands of hectares of primary forest have gone up in smoke every year due to poverty and the trafficking of precious wood, with an unprecedented acceleration of the phenomenon since 2009. This deforestation could be slowed down if the laws in force were finally applied.
