• Starting from January 2026, civil servants' bonuses in Ivory Coast will increase from one third to two thirds of their base monthly salaries.

• The Ivorian government has prioritized increasing social spending, with 789.1 billion FCFA ($1.4 billion) used to finance the Government Social Program (PSGouv) by the end of September 2024.

President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast announced that the year-end bonus for civil servants would see an increase, beginning from January 2026. This adjustment raises the bonus from one third to two thirds of the base monthly salary.

Retirees will also benefit from an enhancement of their exceptional bonus, which will likewise rise from one third to two thirds of the monthly pension commencing from September 2025.

According to the president, these measures are part of ongoing decisions aimed at improving Ivorians’ lives. Other decisions controlling prices of everyday consumer products, revaluating wages, and broadening social safety nets.

This announcement comes in the wake of salary bonus claims, particularly in the education sector, and following the presidential election of October 2025. The Ivorian state has prioritized an increase in social expenditures as part of its budget for 2024. By the end of September 2024, the government had disbursed 789.1 billion FCFA (around $1.4 billion) to finance the Government Social Program (PSGouv).

Under its National Social Protection Strategy 2024-2028, the government plans to increase the proportion of workers enlisted in the Social Regime for Independent Workers (RSTI) from 2.5% in 2022 to 75% in 2028. This includes the sectors of informal labor and rural work.

Although Ivory Coast has seen significant economic growth over the last decade, averaging 7.8% between 2013 and 2019 and 6.5% between 2021 and 2023, this growth has not resulted in equitable wealth distribution. While the poverty rate has declined from 46.3% in 2015 to 39.4% in 2020, rural poverty paradoxically increased by 2.4% in the same period.

President Ouattara also urged the private sector to adopt similar measures to improve employees' conditions.

Lydie Mobio