Côte D’Ivoire Bounces Back

Investments in infrastructure, increased storage capacity, the acquisition or operation of a terminal by a local company, and the “creation of national champions,” would strengthen the private sector’s confidence and stimulate productivity, says Simat’s Eholie. There must also be “relieved borrowing conditions for our businesses,” he stresses.

This was significantly boosted on December 6, when the board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved two loans totaling €165 million (about $181.4 million) for Côte d’Ivoire. “The funding is intended for implementation of the Diversification, Industrial Acceleration, Competitiveness, and Employment Programme created under Côte d’Ivoire’s National Development Plan 2021-2025,” the AfDB said in a statement.

This funding is further intended to support “reforms and investments in the public assets needed to develop the private sector and to de-risk the financing of [small and midsize enterprises] and innovative startups,” AfDB explains.

Côte d’Ivoire is also set to fully join the league of African oil producers such as Nigeria, Angola, and Libya in the new year, as investment into its new Baleine offshore oilfield gathers momentum. The Italian oil company Eni is preparing to invest $10 billion into the Baleine field, which it discovered in 2021. It will develop the field in partnership with the state-owned oil company Petroci. The potential of this field is high, with estimates of its reserves ranging from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil and more than 3,300 billion cubic feet of associated gas.

Until now, Côte d’Ivoire has been a modest producer of hydrocarbons, with around 30,000 barrels per day in 2023. But by 2027, during the third phase of development of the deposit, located in deep waters, Côte d’Ivoire is expected to increase production to around 150,000-200,000 barrels of oil per day.

Fueling Growth

Ivorian authorities have come into the new year with strong backing from the World Bank and the IMF to help implement the country’s strategic plans. The National Development Plan aims to implement strategic reforms to help Côte d’Ivoire attain the status of an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

Besides the $300 million the World Bank has dedicated to accelerating the country’s economic growth, the IMF also announced immediate access to approximately $495 million under a 40-month extended credit facility and extended fund facility (ECF/EFF) arrangement.

These figures are quite modest compared to the level of activity in that country, according to Ernest Achonu, a Nigerian former staff member of the AfDB, in Abidjan, the Ivorian business capital. “The country may need more. It is a country that can handle more resources, but it is a country that is also cautious in its approach in every way,” he says.

The World Bank explains that the $300 million, its second support in a three-part series, focuses on three major reform areas. First: “fostering competition in critical sectors and boosting domestic revenue mobilization.” The reforms “target improvements in sectoral competition policies and regulatory frameworks, particularly in network sectors.”

Second: “expanding equitable access to health and education services, improving the quality of basic education, addressing skills mismatches in labor markets, and advocating for inclusive health insurance.”

Finally: “promoting sustainable natural resource utilization, encompassing sustainable cocoa production and forest conservation, while reinforcing environmental regulatory frameworks.”

“Continued fiscal consolidation envisaged in the 2024 budget will be underpinned by high-quality and permanent tax policy measures, as well as tax and customs administration reforms. These will support reaching the [West African Economic and Monetary Union] deficit target of 3% of GDP by 2025 and reduce the country’s debt sustainability risks,” says the IMF in its December 4 statement assessing the ECF/EFF arrangement.