Côte d’Ivoire last year recorded a positive trade balance as in 2017; a good news featured this week in a government statement.
Over the year, the surplus reached $758 million with $11.2 billion worth of exports against $10.5 billion worth of imports. Yet, figures hide a more than 74.2% decline in the trade surplus since during the previous year, surplus was $2.9 billion ($12.5 billion for exports and $9.6 billion for imports). This means that between the two periods, the country exported 10.3% less and imported 9.2% more.
Government says the decline in exports is due to “an unfavorable international environment for most key exports.” Meanwhile, import spending mainly went to crude oil, machines and rice.
The West African country is betting on a strong economic growth to intensify trade in the coming years. “The Economic Partnership Agreement (APE) between Côte d'Ivoire and the European Union, which entered into force in January 2019, and the African Free Trade Area Agreement (ZLECAf), which entered into force in May 2019, should significantly increase national exports and consolidate the trade surplus,” the government observed.
Moutiou Adjibi Nourou