When it comes to dictatorial states the things the authorities say almost always distort truth. Case in point: Equatorial Guinea.

The country is in a long and deep-rooted economic crisis. Only the most die-hard optimists would call it a stagnation: the economy of Equatorial Guinea is a disaster, carefully build up by a row of wrong decisions and incapable people in charge.

The authorities, however, prefer to put on a happy face and project their wishful thinking into state-owned media, hoping to replace the sad reality experienced on the daily basis by the ordinary Equatoguineans with the false picture of economic growth.

The latest entry into this make-believe was made by the official Government media of Equatorial Guinea and then the generally neutral AhoraEG. According to them, the Prime Minister of the country, on a meeting with heads of ministerial departments, praised those who have managed to breach the “income ceiling”. Those are: Departments of Commerce, Finance, Security, Foreign Affairs, Labor, Agriculture, Transportation, Mines, Civil Aviation and Government Presidency.

First of all, even deemed plausible, these statements do not represent an economic growth in any way. The numbers are easily tempered with, and the fact that some state authorities managed to obtain more money from the extremely poor people of the country, says nothing. Or says it all.

Secondly, let’s look at a bigger picture. The country’s GDP has been gradually diminishing even before the pandemic struck, from USD 37.2 bil. in 2015 to USD 30.3 bil. In 2017. The government debt amounted for only 1% of the GDP only some 15 years ago and has increased to a staggering number of almost 50% of the GDP now.

The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons may say all it wants about how they get higher income these days but the truth is seen with a naked eye. Only in the first quarter of 2021 the production of crude oil and condensate dropped drastically by -20% which is about twice as high as the global drop in production at the time.

Other so-called breaches of income ceiling stand no critics as well. Civil Aviation of the country is as decadent as their military one (or to put it more precisely, almost non-existent).

With all that is thrown aggressively in our faces by the authorities, we may never see the end of it. But there is one thing they always tend to forget about. A thing that eventually changes everything: The truth always comes out.