• EXIM Bank approves $66m guarantee to fund a national data center in Côte d’Ivoire
• U.S. company Cybastion to provide equipment under EXIM’s China-focused program
• Project to boost secure data hosting and support digital growth in the country

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has approved a $66 million guarantee to finance the construction of a national data center in Côte d’Ivoire, the bank said on August 22.

The project will improve the security and management of government data while increasing storage and processing capacity for the country’s digital economy. U.S.-based Cybastion Institute of Technology, LLC will supply the equipment for the facility.

The financing is part of EXIM’s China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP), created to support U.S. technology exports amid growing competition from China. It comes days after a separate $47 million package was announced to digitalize Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. Together, the two projects are expected to speed up the country’s digital transformation.

The World Bank estimates that Côte d’Ivoire’s digital economy could generate over $5.5 billion by 2025 and more than $20 billion by 2050, if both public and private investments are scaled up in five priority areas: infrastructure, platforms, financial services, entrepreneurship, and skills.

Côte d’Ivoire currently has only a few large-capacity data centers, most of them private and located in Abidjan. The new national facility is designed to meet rising demand for secure public data hosting and support digital services for businesses and government institutions.