ZCZC
BCN-16
ICOAST-WESTAFRICA-ECONOMY
I.Coast wants private boost for West Africa competitiveness
ABIDJAN, June 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – West African economies need to tap
deeper into the private sector if they are to boost competitiveness and
continue the region’s strong growth, Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon
Coulibaly said Friday.
“West African states in general have embarked on a strong growth dynamic
since the start of the millennium,” Coulibaly said, pointing to an average
growth of five percent for the region during that time as he addressed a
competitiveness forum in Abidjan.
Noting that Africa’s share of global GDP rose from one to more than four
percent between 2001 and 2014, he added that “vigorous economic reforms and
public and private restrictions underpin these performances”.
But to improve the scenario still further he said “the African private
sector should improve productivity and its performances to make the best of
opportunities on the continent”.
Coulibaly urged the private sector to invest in “technological
innovation… and work with governments to find solutions to factors which
hamper capacity to produce and export”.
Faman Toure, chairman of Ivory Coast’s chamber of commerce — organising
the meeting with the World Economic Forum — said the growth trajectory in
the region’s eight countries was “encouraging” after closing on seven percent
in 2017.
“With a rate of private investment rising 21.2 percent in 2015 and 22.1
percent in 2016, the sub-region is at the head of the global level,” said
Toure, adding that it reflected the increased interest of private investors
in the region.
Toure highlighted the creation in May of a special economic zone
straddling Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Mali to bolster regional
integration.
The region comprises seven French-speaking countries — Benin, Burkina
Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, as well as Portuguese-
speaking Guinea Bissau, with the group having a combined population of some
90 million.
In the wider context, although the International Monetary Fund is banking
on sub-Saharan African growth of 3.4 percent in 2018, from 2.8 percent in
2017, a May report highlighted a heavy debt burden with more than a dozen
countries rated in debt distress or at risk.
BSS/AFP/HR/0958