Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire has seen a dramatic turnaround in its fiscal health in recent years, with an improving outlook for headline growth and a reduced debt load. When the Ivoirian economy hit the skids from the late 1970s onwards, its debt levels spiralled ever higher, increasing ten-fold between 1975 and 1995. Private sector creditors predominated until...

Offshore hydrocarbons exploration constitutes the final frontier in the oil and gas sector. Offshore drilling involves targeting hydrocarbons deposits trapped beneath the ocean floor – or in some cases beneath inland lakes and seas – is the most complex and expensive way of exploiting deposits. And while the returns have the potential to be...

With low levels of banking penetration and chronic challenges facing entrepreneurs wishing to access credit, one would have expected Côte d’Ivoire to be fertile ground for microfinance. However, it has not had as big an impact in Côte d’Ivoire as in some other developing countries. The nation only has 75 approved microfinance institutions (MFI)...

The world’s largest producer of cocoa, Côte d’Ivoire is an ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse West African nation with a rich culture. Once one of Africa’s leading economic powerhouses, the country was afflicted by civil war for much of the past 10 years, including extended unrest following elections in late 2010. However, peace...

Following years of crisis, Côte d’Ivoire has been eager to recapture its former crown as the most dynamic economy in West Africa, and with the benefits of both stability and headline growth, the prospects are encouraging. After decades of chronic under-investment by the public and private sectors alike, much of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic fabric and...

Côte d’Ivoire has seen an encouraging turnaround in diplomatic relations with a variety of partners. In the first decade of this century ties between the central government (for much of the decade the north was under rebel rule) and the West became strained, and the regime in Abidjan was increasingly isolated, both regionally and internationally...