Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s top exporter of cocoa and raw cashew nuts, a net exporter of oil, and has a sizeable manufacturing sector. It is the largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), accounting for 40 percent of the Union’s GDP. The country’s influence on the sub-region is also significant due to its size (19 million people), its relatively high income per capita (US$960 in 2007), and its role in transit trade for landlocked neighboring countries.

While the country boasts enormous potential, years of crisis, economic mismanagement and poor governance have taken a heavy toll on the economy and social outcomes, transforming the once-model African nation into a fragile state blighted by high levels of poverty (reaching nearly 50 percent in 2008 compared to 10 percent in 1985), a breakdown in key institutions and social capital, and the slow deterioration of basic social and economic infrastructure.

Download 8-page brief:
Emerging from Crisis - August 2009 (PDF)