Sub Saharan Africa

Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)
Last reviewed: 04 June 2009

Country information

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ECONOMY

GDP (per capita): $1,700 (2008)
Annual Growth: 2.5% (2008)
Inflation: (consumer prices) 6.1 (2008)
Major Sectors: Agriculture, Industry and Services.
Agricultural Products include coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, sugar, cotton, rubber, timber. Industries include foodstuffs, beverages, wood products, oil refining, truck and bus assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials, electricity.
Major Trading Partners: The European Union, US, Nigeria, China.
Exchange rate: The Currency of Ivory Coast is the CFA Franc, which is pegged to the Euro at Euro 1 = 655.957 FCFA.

Côte d'Ivoire's economy is based on the export of cash crops. It is the largest producer of cocoa in the world, producing 40% of global supply, and the fifth largest producer of robusta coffee. It is estimated that 650,000 farmers work solely in the cocoa sector, which represents 40% of GDP and 60% of export revenues. The economy has expanded into agro-industry and the manufacture of consumer goods for domestic and regional markets.

The conflict has had a negative effect on the economy. Many foreign-owned small businesses have left, tourism has collapsed and the economy of the north of the country has been especially badly hit (for example the cotton growing sector). A few sectors (such as plantation agriculture in the south) have come through relatively unscathed. The new factor in Cote d’Ivoire economy is the oil sector, which now constitutes a significant part of the economy, through offshore fields. Output has declined recently due to technical problems, but the refined petroleum products industry is faring well, and a new oil pipeline was inaugurated in November 2007 to transport petroleum products to the north of the country. The country remains important to the regional economy, as migrant labourers from the Sahelian states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger send significant remittances home. Land disputes are a serious issue as agricultural land has become more scarce and the area of forest which can be opened up for new agricultural development has all but disappeared.

International Monetary Fund - Ivory Coast