Africa Energy

With the recent economic growth spurt serving as a testament to Côte d’Ivoire’s recovery, the subsequent increase in energy consumption has also highlighted gaps in provision. Under pressure to satisfy growing domestic demand and to consolidate its position as a regional energy supplier, the power segment is currently going through an ambitious...

While Côte d’Ivoire’s offshore oil basin has attracted foreign players since the early 1970s, a lack of sizeable findings and rising production costs led to a slump in activity from the late 1980s onwards. This changed at the turn of the millennium when enhanced oil recovery techniques and the prominence of the Gulf of Guinea’s sedimentary basin...

Broad economic recovery, with real GDP growth at 8.7% in 2013 — albeit from a low base — bodes well for Côte d’Ivoire’s retail sector. According to the IMF, the country’s current positive macro-economic outlook is supported by “sustained strong domestic demand”, aided in part by low inflationary pressure of 1.2%. The forecast, combined with a...

The mining sector is a key pillar of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic diversification strategy due to both its high potential for foreign investment and government revenues and its currently low level of development. Much of the modest attention the mining sector has received thus far has been focused on gold and, to a lesser extent, manganese and...

Côte d’Ivoire’s industrial sector has a long and storied history as one of the most developed in the sub-region, but as with many parts of the economy, it is recovering from the adverse impact of a decade of unrest. As a result, the country’s productive capacity fell to levels below that of the 1990s – an upbeat period marked by price and market...

The government has set up an export council charged with implementing a strategy to diversify the world’s leading cocoa exporter away from its traditional markets and provide a roadmap for realising opportunities related to mining and rubber, among other segments.