Cote d'Ivoire : Seventh and Eighth Reviews under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility, Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Proposal for Post-Program Monitoring-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Côte d'Ivoire

IMF Country Report No. 20/321

CÔTE D'IVOIRE

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH REVIEWS UNDER THE

December 2020 EXTENDED CREDIT FACILITY ARRANGEMENT AND THE

EXTENDED ARRANGEMENT UNDER THE EXTENDED FUND FACILITY, REQUEST FOR WAIVERS OF NONOBSERVANCE OF PERFORMANCE CRITERIA, AND PROPOSAL FOR POST-PROGRAM MONITORING; PRESS RELEASE; STAFF REPORT; AND STATEMENT BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR CÔTE D'IVOIRE

In the context of the Seventh and Eighth ECF-EFF Reviews under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility, Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Proposal for Post- Program Monitoring, the following documents have been released and are included in this package:

• A Press Release including a statement by the Chair of the Executive Board.
• The Staff Report prepared by a staff team of the IMF for the Executive Board's consideration on December 9, 2020, following virtual discussions that ended on October 5, 2020, with the officials of Côte d'Ivoire on economic developments and policies underpinning the IMF arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility and the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility. Based on information available at the time of these discussions, the staff report was completed on November 20, 2020.
• A Debt Sustainability Analysis prepared by the staffs of the IMF and the World Bank.
• A Supplementary Information updating information on recent developments.
• A Statement by the Executive Director for Côte d'Ivoire.

The IMF's transparency policy allows for the deletion of market-sensitive information and premature disclosure of the authorities' policy intentions in published staff reports and other documents.

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PR20/367

IMF Executive Board Completes the Final Reviews of

Côte d'Ivoire's Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund

Facility Arrangements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

• The completion of the 7th and 8th reviews of ECF/EFF arrangements enables an immediate disbursement of US$278.2 million.
• The four-year program performance was satisfactory. Côte d'Ivoire is weathering the economic consequences of the pandemic reasonably well so far, reaping the rewards of sound pre-COVID macroeconomic policies and a decisive policy response to the pandemic.
• The completion of current program will be followed by Post-Program Monitoring discussions.

Washington, DC - December 9th, 2020: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the seventh and eighth reviews under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF)1 Arrangement and the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF)2 for Côte d'Ivoire, and approved waivers of nonobservance of performance criteria on the overall budget balance and the new external debt, and the proposal for Post-Program Monitoring discussions.

The three-year ECF/EFF arrangements with a total access of SDR 650.4 million (about US$896.7 million) were approved by the IMF Executive Board on December 12, 2016. It was augmented by about US$278.2 million, as well as extended by one year on December 6, 2019. Completion of the final reviews enables the immediate disbursement of SDR 193.572 million (about US$278.2 million), bringing total disbursements under the arrangements to SDR 844 million (about US$1,207.71 million or 129.8 percent of

Côte d'Ivoire's quota).

The four-year program performance was satisfactory, and the authorities reacted swiftly to the unprecedented challenge of the pandemic. Strong pre-crisis fundamentals, relative economic diversification, and timely relaxing of the fiscal stance allowed Côte d'Ivoire to remain amongst few Sub-Saharan African countries that maintained growth in 2020, currently projected to stand at 1.8 percent. Assuming global conditions gradually normalize, growth is projected to revert to 6½ percent in 2021, but with numerous downside risks. The authorities also intend to gradually consolidate the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2023.

• The ECFis a lending arrangement that provides sustained program engagement over the medium to long term in case of protracted balance of payments problems.

• The EFFwas established to provide assistance to countries: (i) experiencing serious payments imbalances because of structural impediments; or (ii) characterized by slow growth and an inherently weak balance of payments position.

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