In Côte d’Ivoire, Minister of Communication, Affoussiata Bamba-Lamine is not pleased with the way press guarantee fund is used. She said the utilization rate for the fund was too low - 7% - considering that it amounted to 2.035 billion FCFA ($3.3 million).

The press guarantee fund was established to back bank loans to press firms. This fund is poorly exploited by Medias currently facing a precarious financial situation, mainly written press who recorded “a sharp drop in newspapers sales”, said Minister Affoussiata Bamba-Lamine. She thus called to media promoters to reflect more on new perspectives which will truly impulse press agencies. The minister believes that authorities, editors and journalists should be more ingenious regarding the research for answers to challenges faced by the press industry.

Up till now, Ivorian media companies have been living on direct subsidies granted by the State through the Support Fund for Press Development (FSDP). Its executive director Bernice N’Guessan said the institution’s role does not consist in distributing disbursed public money. The fund also backs companies so they obtain bank loans.

These were mentioned meanwhile another set of press grants had been released.During the ceremony on December 14, 2015, minister of communication announced the distribution of $475,811 (FCFA 285,102,000).

A subsidy of 187,950 000 directed to 25 press institutions (15 daily and 10 weekly) to cover three months of printing. Beneficiaries of this subsidy are members of Côte d’Ivoire press editors Association (GEPCI). Also, another subsidy of 81,352,800 FCFA was granted to 8 professional organization of the media sector. The State also provided 15 million FCFA to finance a study on the establishment of a mutualistic association for journalists and professionals of the communication industry. This year, private press received about $1.28 million in aid.

Assongmo Necdem