Central African Republic Company & Beneficial Ownership Directory

Analysis

What this data actually tells you about Central African Republic

The Central African Republic is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries, with a nominal GDP of roughly $2.93 billion and GDP per capita of just $531 in 2025, per World Bank data — ranking it among Africa’s three poorest nations alongside South Sudan and Burundi. President Faustin-Archangé Touadéra, in power since 2016, was declared winner of a disputed 28 December 2025 election with 76.15% of the vote; opposition candidates rejected the result and alleged major irregularities, while a main opposition coalition boycotted the vote entirely. Touadéra was sworn in for a third term in March 2026, made possible by a 2023 constitutional referendum that removed presidential term limits.

Security remains fragile and heavily dependent on outside forces. The UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA, with a troop ceiling of over 14,000 military personnel plus nearly 3,000 police, had its mandate renewed through November 2026, though the mission faced a significant funding shortfall in early 2026. Russian mercenaries, transitioning from the Wagner Group to the state-run Africa Corps, remain deployed alongside government forces; since the December 2025 election, fighting has flared in the southeast between government forces and the Azande Ani Kpi Gbè militia, a group Wagner had itself previously trained and armed to fight rival rebels, illustrating the volatility of these security arrangements.

The economy is anchored by subsistence agriculture, estimated at around 55% of GDP, alongside diamond and timber exports. Diamond exports totalled $7.93 million in 2025 following the 2024 lifting of an 11-year Kimberley Process export embargo, though rebel groups reportedly still control and finance some mining areas; timber accounts for an estimated 40% of export earnings, with most log exports still leaving the country unprocessed despite a regional commitment to end the practice by 2028. Real GDP growth reached an estimated 3.3% in 2025, driven partly by construction and infrastructure investment.

Mining sector reform has been a notable recent focus: a new Mining Code took effect in 2024, and in 2025 the government created two new state-owned mining companies to develop the sector, even as the Ndassima gold deposit, valued by the government at roughly $2.8 billion, remains controlled by a company affiliated with the Wagner Group since 2019 — a clear example of how conflict actors have captured parts of the country’s resource wealth. Multiple sectors of the economy, from professional services to arts and entertainment, remain effectively undocumented in available statistics, a reflection of the country’s broader institutional and data-capacity constraints.