IMF resolves Article IV consultation with Ivory Coast

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) resolved the 2016 Article IV consultation with Ivory Coast May 25.

Ivory Coast has seen its economy perform well in the past four years, but there are still difficulties facing the nation. Normalization of politics coupled with the support of fiscal policy and reforms to its structure will boost business will enable the economy to gain strength. A small decline in poverty has seen some growth, but there are other factors, such as human development indicators, that have been very slow to see improvement.

In 2015 the economic activity in Ivory Coast was resilient, with real gross domestic product growing by an estimated 8.6 percent. This was due to strong investments and private consumption. 

Domestic food production and imported consumer products saw an ample rise because inflation was down. The 2015 fiscal deficit remained at 3 percent, which was lower than the targeted 3.7 percent, due to strong revenues and a lower execution of externally-financed capital spending. The banking sector saw its soundness indicators weaken, which caused credit to rise exponentially.

While the medium-term outlook still looks favorable to Ivory Coast, the economy could still be at risk.