NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Economy of Côte d'Ivoire

This article describes the Economy of Côte d'Ivoire Côte dIvoire (often called Ivory Coast in English; see below about the name) is a country in West Africa. ...

The Ivorian economy is largely market based and depends heavily on the agricultural sector. Almost 70% of the Ivorian people are engaged in some form of agricultural activity. Côte d'Ivoire is among the world's largest producers and exporters of coffee, cocoa beans, and palm oil. Consequently, the economy is highly sensitive to fluctuations in international prices for these products and to weather conditions. Despite attempts by the government to diversify the economy, it is still largely dependent on agriculture and related activities, which engage roughly 68% of the population. A market is a mechanism which allows people to trade, normally governed by the theory of supply and demand, so allocating resources through the price mechanism. ... Coffee beans and a cup of coffee Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant. ... Cocoa may refer to either the dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree, which are used to make chocolate; or, more usually in the United States, to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding the seeds and removing the cocoa butter. ... Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the Oil palm tree. ...

The economy performed poorly in the 1980s and early 1990s, and high population growth coupled with economic decline resulted in a steady fall in living standards. Gross national product per capita, now rising again, was about U.S. $727 in 1996. (It was substantially higher two decades ago.) After several years of lagging performance, the Ivorian economy began a comeback in 1994, due to the devaluation of the CFA franc and improved prices for cocoa and coffee, growth in nontraditional primary exports such as pineapples and rubber, limited trade and banking liberalization, offshore oil and gas discoveries, and generous external financing and debt rescheduling by multilateral lenders and France. The 50% devaluation of Franc Zone currencies on 12 January 1994 caused a one-time jump in the inflation rate to 26% in 1994, but the rate fell sharply in 1996-1999. Moreover, government adherence to donor-mandated reforms led to a jump in growth to 5% annually in 1996-99. A majority of the population remains dependent on smallholder cash crop production. Principal exports are cocoa, coffee, and tropical woods. Principal U.S. exports are rice and wheat, plastic materials and resins, Kraft paper, agricultural chemicals, telecommunications, and oil and gas equipment. Principal U.S. imports are cocoa and cocoa products, petroleum, rubber, and coffee. Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ... Population growth is changing of the amount of population over time. ... The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people. ... Measures of national income and output are used in economics to estimate the value of goods and services produced in an economy. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The countries using the CFA franc The CFA franc (in French: franc CFA, or just franc in everyday conversation if no ambiguity is possible) is a currency used in 12 formerly French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (former Portuguese colony) and in Equatorial Guinea (former Spanish... Cocoa may refer to either the dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree, which are used to make chocolate; or, more usually in the United States, to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding the seeds and removing the cocoa butter. ... Coffee beans and a cup of coffee Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant. ... Binomial name Ananas comosus The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical plant and its fruit, native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. ... Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ... Devaluation is reduction in the value of a currency. ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is sold for money. ... Forestry is the art, science, and practice of studying and managing forests and plantations, and related natural resources. ... Species Oryza barthii Oryza glaberrima Oryza latifolia Oryza longistaminata Oryza punctata Oryza rufipogon Oryza sativa References ITIS 41975 2002-09-22 This article is about the food grain, not the university or Condoleezza Rice; see also rice (disambiguation). ... Species T. boeoticum T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta References: ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp) is a grass that is cultivated around the world. ... The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic polymerization products. ... Resin is a hydrocarbon secretion formed in special resin canals of many plants, from many of which (for example, coniferous trees) it is exuded in soft drops from wounds, hardening into solid masses in the air. ... The Kraft process is used in production of paper pulp and involves the use of caustic sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide to extract the lignin from the wood fiber in large vats called digesters. ... Telecommunication is the extension of communication over a distance. ... Cocoa may refer to either the dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree, which are used to make chocolate; or, more usually in the United States, to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding the seeds and removing the cocoa butter. ... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Latin petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths crust. ...

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a key role in the Ivorian economy, accounting for between 40% and 45% of total capital in Ivorian firms. France is overwhelmingly the most important foreign investor. In recent years, French investment has accounted for about one-quarter of the total capital in Ivorian enterprises, and between 55% and 60% of the total stock of foreign investment capital. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the movement of capital across national frontiers in a manner that grants the investor control over the acquired asset. ...

Infrastructure

By developing country standards, Côte d'Ivoire has an outstanding infrastructure. There is a network of more than 8,000 miles of paved roads; modern telecommunications services, including a public data communications network; cellular phones and Internet access; two active ports, one of which, Abidjan, is the most European in West Africa; rail links-in the process of being upgraded-both within the country and to Burkina Faso; regular air service within the region and to and from Europe; and real estate developments for commercial, industrial, retail, and residential use. Côte d'Ivoire's location and connections to neighboring countries makes it a preferred platform from which Europeans conduct West African business operations. The city of Abidjan is one of the most modern and liveable cities in the region for wealthy French expatriates. Its school system is highly regarded and includes an excellent international school based on a U.S. curriculum and several excellent French-based schools. A developing country is a country with a low income average, a relatively backwards infrastructure and a poor human development index when compared to the global norm. ... A computer network is a system for communication among two or more computers. ... Cellular redirects here. ... Seaport, a painting by Claude Lorrain, 1638 A port is a facility at the edge of an ocean, river, or lake for receiving ships and transferring cargo and persons to them. ... Abidjan is the largest city and former capital of Côte dIvoire. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... West Africa is the region of western Africa generally considered to include these countries: Benin Burkina Faso Cameroon Côte dIvoire (Ivory Coast) Equatorial Guinea Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Chad, Mauritania, and... Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the movement of capital across national frontiers in a manner that grants the investor control over the acquired asset. ... Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... Abidjan is the largest city and former capital of Côte dIvoire. ... An expatriate (in abbreviated form expat) is someone temporarily or permanently in a country and culture other than that of their upbringing and/or legal residence. ... In education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses and their contents offered by an institution such as a school or university. ...

Côte d'Ivoire has stepped up public investment programs after the stagnation of the pre-devaluation era. The government's public investment plan accords priority to investment in human capital, but it also will provide for significant spending on economic infrastructure needed to sustain growth. Continued infrastructure development is also expected to occur because of private sector activity. The private sector of a nations economy consists of those entities which are not controlled by the state - i. ...

In the new environment of government disengagement from productive activities and in the wake of recent privatizations, anticipated investments in the petroleum, electricity, water, and telecommunications sectors, and in part of the transport sector, will be financed without any direct government intervention. Electricity is a property of certain subatomic particles (e. ... Water (from the Old English word wæter) is a colourless, tasteless, and odourless substance that is essential to all known forms of life and is known also as the most universal solvent. ...

Major Trends and Outlooks

Since the colonial period, Côte d'Ivoire's economy has been based on the production and export of tropical products. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries account for more than one-third of GDP and two-thirds of exports. Côte d'Ivoire produces 40% of the world's cocoa crop and is a major exporter of bananas, coffee, cotton, palm oil, pineapples, rubber, tropical wood products, and tuna. The 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc and accompanying structural adjustment measures generally favored the agricultural sector by increasing competitiveness. However, reliance on raw cocoa and coffee exports, which account for 40% of total exports, exposes the economy to sharp price swings on world markets for these commodities. The government encourages export diversification and intermediate processing of cocoa beans to reduce this exposure. Cocoa beans exports to the U.S. increased sharply in 1996 due to lower freight rates. In general, the word colonial means of or relating to a colony. In United States history, the term Colonial is used to refer to the period before US independence. ... A fishery (plural: fisheries) is an organized effort by humans to catch fish or other aquatic species, an activity known as fishing. ... Species Hybrid origin; see text A banana is a tree-like plant (though strictly an herb) of the genus Musa in the family Musaceae, closely related to plantains. ... Cotton is a soft fiber that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. ... Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the Oil palm tree. ... Species Thunnus alalunga Thunnus albacares Thunnus atlanticus Thunnus maccoyii Thunnus obesus Thunnus orientalis Thunnus thynnus Thunnus tonggol Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ...

The four years following the January 12, 1994, devaluation of the CFA franc saw Côte d'Ivoire return to the rapid economic growth it knew in the 1960s and 1970s. The spur provided by the devaluation, by increased aid flows, rigorous macroeconomic policies, and fortuitous international commodity prices yielded strong GDP growth in both 1996 and 1997. In addition to these factors, the long period of pre-devaluation stagnation, in which local businesses and potential outside investors put off capital expenditure, caused a boom in investment following the devaluation. Côte d'Ivoire has also begun to turn the corner on its daunting debt problem: first with a generous rescheduling of official bilateral debt at the Paris Club in March 1994; more recently, with a tentative London Club agreement in November 1996, and the April 1997 decision by the G-7 countries to include Côte d'Ivoire in the new IMF-World Bank debt forgiveness initiative for highly indebted poor countries. Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... Macroeconomics is the study of the entire economy in terms of the total amount of goods and services produced, total income earned, the level of employment of productive resources, and the general behavior of prices. ... The word commodity is a term with distinct meanings in business and in Marxist political economy. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Paris Club is an informal group of financial officials from 19 of the worlds richest countries, which provides financial services such as debt restructuring, debt relief, and debt cancellation to indebted countries and their creditors. ... 1983 G-7 Economic Summit in Williamsburg, Virginia (left to right) Pierre Trudeau, Gaston Thorn, Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand, Ronald Reagan, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Margaret Thatcher, Amintore Fanfani. ... The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing global financial system‘s current trade account balances of member states. ... The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means of financing states. ...

Côte d'Ivoire's recent economic performance has been impressive, particularly in 1995 and 1996. Real GDP growth was 7% in 1995, 6.8% in 1996, and an estimated 6% in 1997. The country has been meeting its IMF targets for growth, inflation, government finance, and balance of payments. Traditional commodity exports were boosted both by the devaluation (though improved prices in local currency terms were only partially passed through to farmers) and by higher world prices for cocoa and coffee. At the same time, the devaluation and the generally favorable business environment produced growth in nontraditional crops, local processing of commodities, and the services sector. For other meanings of the word balance, see: propaganda equilibrium (disambiguation page) sense of balance weighing scale analytical balance (a precise weighing scale) balance beam in gymnastics Balance (song) homeostasis, the biological balance within a human or other animals body When the weights on the plates of this balance...

In 1996 and 1997, inflation continued the downward trend begun after the devaluation, when the government kept a tight lid both on salary increases and on the size of the public sector work force. Inflation as measured by the increase in the consumer price index has fallen sharply, from 1994's post-devaluation 32.2% to 7.7% in 1995, 3.5% in 1996, and an estimated 5% in 1997. The public sector is that part of economic and administrative life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the government, whether national, regional or local/municipal. ... In economics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI, also retail price index) is a statistical measure of a weighted average of prices of a specified set of goods and services purchased by wage earners in urban areas. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Public sector finances are another bright spot: Government revenues are on a strongly rising trend since 1993, capped by a 15% increase from 1995 to 1996. The stronger revenue picture, when combined with restraint on the spending side, has resulted in three years of primary surpluses (i.e., receipts minus expenditure, excluding borrowing and debt service). Following a concerted government repayment effort, domestic arrears had been virtually eliminated by the end of 1996.

The outlook for the near and medium term in Côte d'Ivoire remains positive. The government hopes to attain double-digit real GDP growth, but this appears achievable only in a best-case scenario, including continued or enhanced investment flows, additional oil or mineral production, and no drop in world commodity prices; short of this optimistic scenario, a continuation of 6% or 7% growth seems likely for the near term. Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ...

Economic Data

In economics, purchasing power parity (PPP) is a method used to calculate an alternative exchange rate between the currencies of two countries. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids, see Drinking. ... View of the Shell/Valero Martinez oil refinery An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into useful petroleum products. ... Automakers are companies that produce automobiles. ... Textile is also a kind of ReStructured Text. ... Fertilizers are chemicals given to plants with the intention of promoting growth; they are usually applied either via the soil or by foliar spraying. ... Construction on the North Bytown Bridge in Ottawa, Canada. ... Coal rail cars in Ashtabula, Ohio Fossil fuels, also known as mineral fuels, are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. ... Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is a form of hydropower, (i. ... This article is about power derived from nuclear reactions. ... Species Zea diploperennis Zea luxurians Zea nicaraguensis Zea perennis References ITIS 42268 2002-09-22 Sorting Zea names This article is about the staple food. ... Binomial name Manihot esculenta Crantz Cassava or manioc (Manihot esculenta; also yuca in Spanish, and mandioca, aipim, or macaxera in Portuguese) is a woody perennial shrub of the spurge family, that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop for its edible starchy tuberous root. ... Tapioca is an essentially flavourless starchy ingredient, or fecula, produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking. ... Binomial name Ipomoea batatas Linnaeus, This article is about the plant. ... A sugar is a form of carbohydrate; the most commonly used sugar is a white crystalline solid, sucrose; used to alter the flavor and properties (mouthfeel, preservation, texture) of beverages and food. ... Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus, the most abundant fish species in the world. ... The countries using the CFA franc The CFA franc (in French: franc CFA, or just franc in everyday conversation if no ambiguity is possible) is a currency used in 12 formerly French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (former Portuguese colony) and in Equatorial Guinea (former Spanish... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. ...

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Infrastructure

Major Trends and Outlooks

Economic Data

See also

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics