Economy
High Gross Domestic Product
The Ivory Coast contributes the largest share of gross domestic product to the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The Ivory Coast generates around 40 percent. The gross domestic product per capita in West Africa is also above average, although it remains below the average gross domestic product per capita for Africa as a whole. In 2010, the Ivory Coast generated a gross domestic product of around €16 billion. The services sector accounted for the largest share of GDP at 51 percent, followed by industry at 26 percent and agriculture at around 23 percent.
The Ivory Coast’s most important sources of revenue
The Ivory Coast earns a large share of its revenue from the production and trade of cocoa and Robusta coffee. The country is Africa’s largest producer of Robusta coffee and ranks among the world’s top producers of cocoa. In 2004, for example, the Ivory Coast accounted for 40 percent of global cocoa production. Other traditional revenue sources for this tropical agrarian country include cotton, fruit, timber, palm oil and natural rubber. Oil and gas deposits have also been discovered off the coast, allowing the country to increasingly benefit in recent years from revenue generated by oil and gas trade. Trade in petroleum has led to a decline in export earnings from cocoa production. However, this is not solely due to oil production; low producer prices and rising levies have also made cocoa production less attractive for investors. Coffee production, on the other hand, has increased. The country’s main sources of revenue now include coffee, petroleum and cocoa. The government has announced that it will intensify exploration for further important raw materials in the coming years, with a particular focus on iron ore, gold, manganese and diamonds.
Foreign trade
The Ivory Coast is one of the heavily indebted developing countries. In 2007, for example, its external debt stood at around 64 percent of GDP. Thanks to trade in cocoa and petroleum, the Ivory Coast has consistently achieved a positive trade balance in recent years. In 2007, for instance, goods worth around €4 billion were imported, while exports totalled €6.2 billion. More than 40 percent of exports go to EU countries. Imports are also dominated by goods from the EU, accounting for more than 30 percent. France is the Ivory Coast’s most important trading partner. The goods imported to Germany include mainly petroleum and cocoa. Around 60 percent of the cocoa imported to Germany comes from the Ivory Coast.
