Business
Ivory Coast Reopens for Business Despite Being Scarred by War
It posted growth of over 9 percent the past two years and the government is targeting double-digits in 2014 as it seeks to make up ground on neighbouring Ghana, a new oil exporter.
“Ivory Coast could become one of the motors of economic growth in Africa again,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told a conference in Abidjan last week that drew 4,000 delegates and more than $800 million in investment pledges.
Large-scale infrastructure projects, shelved during a decade of political deadlock, are springing back to life. A motorway linking the port of Abidjan to the administrative capital Yamoussoukro opened late last year. Bouyges is pressing ahead with a long-delayed third bridge across Abidjan’s lagoon to unlock congestion.
Heavy investment in electricity generation aims to boost output from 1,600 megawatts to 4,000 by 2020 as Ivory Coast, already a power exporter, seeks to become a regional energy hub.
REGIONAL GATEWAY
Donors have thrown themselves behind Ouattara’s reconstruction programme. At a conference in Paris in December 2012 they pledged $8.6 billion – double the amount requested – to improve infrastructure under a 2013-2015 plan.
The International Financial Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, wants to invest $1 billion over 2 to 3 years – equal to its total investment in Ivory Coast to date.
Ouattara has pushed through reforms to improve an intimidating business climate. A new business can now be set up in under 48 hours and a commercial court is up and running to arbitrate disputes. Private investors, slow to arrive in the first years after the war, seem ready to take the plunge.
