Insights and analysis

The coming banking boom in Côte d’Ivoire

Ivory Coast could double the size of its economy every decade, according to the IMF.

With an economy that is projected to expand 8% this year (second fastest growing in Africa after Ethiopia), and where GDP per capita is expected to jump from about $1,500 in 2016 to $2,000 in 2021, Ivory Coast has a lot going for it (putting aside the recent mutiny by the country’s military which the government managed to contain which seems not to have deterred investors). Private sector credit grew from 16% of GDP to 23% of GDP between 2010 and 2015 and there’s still lots of room to grow — by comparison Kenya is at 35% and Morocco at 64% of GDP!

Against this backdrop, Cote d’Ivoire’s banking sector seems poised for a major boom.