The share of public procurement awarded to SMEs in Côte d’Ivoire grew from 24.8% at end March 2018 to 43.6% at end March 2019. This makes an increase of 18.8 points.

According to the government, the good result is linked to “the introduction of loosened procedures and eased bidding conditions to improve SMEs' access to public procurement.” The average time limit for awarding public contracts also fell from 107.9 days at end March 2018 to 98.8 days at end March 2019, down 9.1 days.

Furthermore, the amount of public contracts approved was XOF170.5 billion (about $293.3 million) in Q1 2019 against XOF169 billion (about $290.8 million) in Q1 2018. And in terms of number, 516 contracts were approved in Q1 2019 compared to 303 in Q1 2018, up 70.3%.

Zeinab Dosso (intern)