Four months of war have brought the economy of Ivory Coast to its knees — something that rebels and politicians attending peace talks near Paris from Wednesday will bear in mind as they discuss the political issues.
The September 19 rebellion has not only ruined Ivory’s Coast’s reputation as a regional economic engine and a beacon of stability but also hit production, consumption patterns and revenues.
The grim situation is a far cry from the halcyon days when the west African country was hailed as a model of prosperity and free enterprise.
The rebels control more than half the country, which produces around 40% of the world’s cocoa, including the second city
of Bouake, a key industrial base.
”The growth target that we had fixed for 2002 cannot be realised,” Finance Minister Paul Bohoun Bouabre said in a New Year message.
After two years of recession, the country had aimed at three percent growth — a highly optimistic projection.
Exacerbating the problems is the fact that many people in the rebel-held north have not received their salaries since the unrest, resulting in a 30% fall in general consumption over the past two months, according to the National Office of Technical Studies and Development (BNEDT).
Cash is in short supply and many enterprises have closed shop. ”About 60% of the families in Bouake do not have any earnings and others have lost 80% of their purchasing power,” the UN World Food Programme said recently.
In December, one expert estimated the losses in the north, where cotton, cashew nuts, tobacco and sugarcane are grown, at more than 300-million euros.
Although most of the cocoa belt lies in government hands, the harvest, which began in September, has been threatened by the conflict.
The country’s fortunes have been further aggravated by the fact that landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali which served as a vast hinterland for Abidjan, west Africa’s second port, have closed their borders.
Much of Abidjan’s traffic has been diverted to ports in nearby Ghana, Benin and Togo. Cigarette prices in Abidjan have in the meantime nearly doubled in Abidjan. And the state is losing an estimated 150-million CFA francs every day in taxes on tobacco.
In the markets the prices of vegetables, meat, millet and sugar are spiralling.
Last month International business watchdog Coface downgraded Ivory Coast from C to D, the lowest category saying ”this situation and the general climate of insecurity puts at risk the cocoa sector, the main source of revenue for the country.”
Coface also expressed concern that several public investment programmes had been interrupted. According to customs chief Gnamien Konan, his department’s earnings in the last trimester plunged 20%, representing a whopping 45,7-million euros or 1,5% of the provisional budget for 2002 voted in March.
The only silver lining in recent times appears to be French President Jacques Chirac’s promise of economic aid if Ivory Coast pulls back from the brink of civil war. ”The open crisis threatens at any minute to consume the country,” Chirac said but added that if peace broke out ”France will take charge of an alliance of donors for the economic reconstruction of Ivory Coast.” – Sapa-AFP