Ivory Coast Finance Chief Sees GDP Growth at Nine-Year Low

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa)  — Ivory Coast’s economy will probably expand at the slowest pace since the end of a crisis in 2011 as the outbreak of coronavirus is seen to hit foreign direct investment and the roll-out of infrastructure.
The world’s top cocoa producer cut its 2020 economic growth forecast to 5.8%, from an initial estimate of 7.3%, Minister of Economy and Finance Adama Coulibaly said in an interview. The loss of income will also affect public finances and widen the budget deficit that was previously estimated at 3% of gross domestic product, he said, without elaborating further.
The West African nation has been one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies since President Alassane Ouattara took office nine years ago, ending almost a decade of political instability. Many governments across Africa have closed borders and banned large gatherings to contain the spread of the coronavirus while bracing for the economic impact of weaker trade and lower commodity prices.
Ivory Coast will have little choice but to delay plans for the sale of Eurobonds due to rising yields, said Coulibaly. The country planned to raise about 500 billion CFA francs ($826 million) through bank loans and offshore bonds, well ahead of elections that are scheduled for October, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly said last month.
Seven-year dollar bonds that neighboring Ghana sold at 6.375% in February was trading at 13.1% at 10:21 a.m. in London on Thursday.