Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, 25 January 2013 –
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will further scale up its activities in Cote d’Ivoire, with a focus on supporting power generation, agribusiness, and increasing access to finance and capacity building for SMEs, said Dorothy Berry, IFC Vice-President, Human Resources, Communications, and Administration.
During her visit in Côte d’Ivoire, Berry met with Nialé Kaba, Minister in charge fo Economy and Finance, Jean-Louis Billon, Private Sector Minister, and Jean-Claude Brou, Industry Minister. She also met with representatives from the private sector and with donor partners.
“The success of Consultative Group meetings in Paris last December, which resulted in an $8 billion pledge from multilateral and bilateral agencies, shows the development community’s commitment to support the recovery of the largest economy in the West Africa block,” she said. “For our part, IFC will continue its efforts to help Cote d’Ivoire, a Fragile and Conflict-affected State, move on the path of reconciliation and recovery. We are actively working with the private sector and government in Côte d’Ivoire to foster job creation through removing obstacles to private sector development.”
Berry took the opportunity of her visit to extend warm congratulations to the new government for its reform agenda, including regarding the investment climate, and its efforts to reposition Cote d’Ivoire as the lead economy in the sub-Saharan region.
IFC is looking to invest about $700 million in Cote d’Ivoire for this FY13. Within that envelope, IFC has already committed $125 which will go to support the Azito 3 expansion phase, signed last October in Paris. The expansion phase will increase the capacity of Azito thermal power plant to 427 MW, thus improving access to electricity for Ivoirians and making it the largest thermal power plant in Cote d’Ivoire and one of the major ones in the region.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges.
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