ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Multilateral and bilateral lenders on Wednesday made a series of pledges to support Ivory Coast’s 2021-25 Development Plan totalling $26.1 billion, Prime Minister Patrick Achi said.
The West Africa Development Bank pledged 1 billion euros, the African Development Bank $4.3 billion, the World Bank $8.7 billion and the Islamic Development Bank $2 billion.
The European Union pledged 6 billion euros, and France pledged more than 4 billion euros.
Leaders of Ivory Coast, one of West Africa’s largest economies and the world’s top cocoa producer, held a consultative meeting with investors and development partners in the administrative capital Abidjan on Wednesday to raise funds for the five-year programme.
“The success we’ve seen is beyond what we expected. We had expected $15 billion in pledges, we have received $26.1 billion in total,” Achi announced, adding that Ivory Coast would be waiting for the pledges to be honoured.
The development plan will require $94.74 billion, with $24.65 billion expected to come from the public sector and $70.09 billion – or 74% of the amount – from the private sector.
($1 = 0.9587 euros)
(This story refiles to correct paragraph 2 to show World Bank pledged $8.7 bln and African Development Bank pledged $4.3 bln; figures were reversed in earlier story)
(Reporting by Bate Felix; Writing by Sofia Christensen and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Richard Chang)
