Ivory Coast

2023-07-16

Côtte D'Ivoire is bordered by Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Mali with 515km of North Atlantic coastline and a land mass of 322,463km2. It has close political and economic ties with its West African neighbours, and it maintains close ties to the West, particularly France. The capital is Yamoussoukro, while the commercial and administrative centre is Abidjan, the largest city.

GDP was US$70.02bn in 2022 according to World Bank data, and it has a population of 28.4 million which includes the largest French-speaking population on the continents.

It is the world's leading cocoa and cashew producer, and is richly endowed with natural resources including petroleum and natural gas. With real GDP growth averaging 8.2% between 2012 and 2019, it successfully contained the pandemic and maintained a positive growth rate of 2% in 2020. In 2021, the country returned to its high-growth trajectory, and it continues to play a central role as a regional economic hub and host country for many nationals from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and elsewhere.

Real GDP growth dropped from 7.4% in 2021 to 6.7% in 2022 due to the ongoing effects of Russia;s invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic. Growth is driven mainly by the extractive industry, manufacturing, construction, retail trade, telecommunications, private and public investment and private consumption. Inflation rose from 4.2% in 2021 to 5.2% in 2022, mainly from higher food prices due to inadequate local supplies and by the higher cost of transportation caused by increased global energy prices.
The country has enjoyed political and social stability since legislative elections were held in 2021. There has been a commitment to a national reconciliation process following dialogue between the government, political parties and civil society.

Since January 2020, Côte D'Ivoire has secured financing for its gas-to-power projects, Azito and Atinkou. Azito is a 460MW gas-to-power station, owned and operated by Globeleq, which uses natural gas supplied from Côte D'Ivoire' offshore gas fields. The plant's capacity is being expanded by 253MW, which will see it generate about 30% of the country's installed power generation capacity. The expansion project's debt financing of €264m is provided by financial institutions such as the International Finance Corporation, the African Development Bank, the West African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development and European Development Finance Institutions.
Two-thirds of the population are employed in the agricultural sector, which represents 25% of GDP and 70% of export earnings. This primary sector is composed of food crops (12% of GDP), export crops (11%), and animal husbandry and peaches (2%).


Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF.