## Côte d’Ivoire: Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative—Request for Additional Interim Assistance; and Press Release

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Côte d’Ivoire: Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative—Request for Additional Interim Assistance; and Press Release](https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/_cr10115.pdf)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/_cr10115.pdf.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/_cr10115.pdf.json)

---

### Request and decision
- Government request (letter dated Abidjan, March 17, 2010): disbursement of additional interim HIPC assistance in the amount of SDR 5.042 million, sufficient to cover 43.1 percent of eligible Extended Credit Facility (ECF) repayments falling due during April 2010–March 2011.
- Fund action: Draft decision to provide additional interim assistance equivalent to SDR 5.042 million attached for Directors’ consideration on a lapse of time basis.
- Press Release: Executive Board granted additional interim assistance equivalent to SDR 5.0 million (about $7.6 million) for the period April 2010 through March 2011 on a lapse of time basis.

### Background on ECF arrangement and prior interim assistance
- ECF arrangement approved: three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility approved March 27, 2009; HIPC decision point reached April 1, 2009.
- Initial HIPC/Interim assistance commitments:
  - Committed HIPC assistance in NPV terms: SDR 25.21 million.
  - Interim assistance provided for April 1, 2009–March 31, 2010: SDR 5.043 million (equivalent to 44.0 percent of ECF principal repayment obligations falling due April 1, 2009–March 31, 2010).

### Economic developments and outlook (2009–2010)
- 2009 performance:
  - Real GDP growth: about 3.8 percent (in line with the program).
  - External current account surplus (before official transfers): 5.1 percent of GDP.
  - Consumer prices: fell as food, energy, and transport prices eased.
- 2010 risks and outlook:
  - Political tensions (dissolution of government and electoral commission mid-February 2010; subsequent formation of new coalition government and election commission in late February 2010) likely to dampen economic activity.
  - Electricity outages since January 2010 due to a turbine failure in a major power plant expected to reduce growth in 2010 relative to earlier projections.
  - Côte d’Ivoire’s next debt-service payment to the Fund falls due on April 1, 2010, prior to Executive Board consideration of the second ECF review (expected in June–July 2010).

### Program performance under the ECF
- Overall assessment: broadly satisfactory performance under the ECF, though pace of structural reforms has lagged.
- Fiscal and quantitative targets:
  - 2009 fiscal targets broadly met.
  - All but two quantitative performance criteria for end-December 2009 were observed.
  - Missed performance criterion on the overall fiscal balance: missed by a small margin.
  - Breach of performance criterion on accumulation of new external debt service arrears in late 2009 by a small amount when a government guarantee was called on obligations falling due in November and December 2009; government intends to complete payment of these obligations in the near future.
- Structural benchmarks for 2009 (13 total):
  - Met: 7.
  - Recorded some progress: 5.
  - No progress: 1 (implementation depends on administrative reunification and is subject to political factors).
  - Authorities expect to complete the six outstanding benchmarks in the first half of 2010.

### Fiscal outlook and reform discussions (second ECF review)
- 2010 budget outlook affected by:
  - Lower growth and inflation.
  - Assistance from the budget to address large deficits at the oil refinery (due to sharp compression of international refining margins since early 2009) and in the electricity sector.
- Policy actions under discussion:
  - Cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing measures in the refinery and electricity sectors.
  - Reforms to address a sizeable shortfall of customs revenue recorded in 2009 (related to strikes, administrative problems, and problematic new software)—good progress reported.
  - Reforms to put the wage bill on a sustainable path.
- Second ECF review: discussions took place in Abidjan during March 4–19, 2010; will continue in Washington during the Spring Meetings.

### Debt relief and rescheduling progress
- Financing assurances: just over 95 percent of Côte d’Ivoire’s external debt stock at end-2007 (in NPV terms) has financing assurances regarding the enhanced HIPC Initiative.
- Paris Club:
  - Bilateral agreements relating to the May 2009 Paris Club debt restructuring have been signed with all Paris Club creditors except the United Kingdom and Brazil (expected to be signed in the near future).
  - Paris Club agreement covers $7.0 billion of debt, including $3.6 billion in arrears.
- Brady bonds:
  - Brady bond exchange launched in mid-March 2010 (terms agreed in September 2009) and expected to close in early April; provides debt relief on about $2.8 billion of outstanding Brady bonds.
- Other creditors:
  - Discussions ongoing with private commercial creditors covering end-2008 debt of about $290 million.
  - Discussions ongoing with official non-Paris Club bilateral creditors on terms consistent with Paris Club comparability and HIPC Initiative requirements.

### Staff assessment and recommendation
- Staff supports the authorities’ request for additional interim assistance under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative based on:
  - Broadly satisfactory performance under the ECF to date.
  - Progress in constructive discussions during March 4–19, 2010 in Abidjan toward the second review of the ECF arrangement.

### Appendix: Government letter highlights (Abidjan, March 17, 2010)
- Request: disbursement of additional interim HIPC assistance in the amount of SDR 5.042 million (covering 43.1 percent of eligible ECF repayments due April 2010–March 2011).
- 2009 performance summary echoed: broadly satisfactory with small misses on overall fiscal balance and a small amount of external debt-service arrears; bulk of arrears already paid and remainder to be completed in the near future.
- Structural benchmarks: seven met, five with progress, one not met; outstanding benchmarks to be implemented in the first half of 2010.
- Anticipated timing for second review: expected by May–June 2009 (as stated in the letter).
- Government commitment: remain fully committed to implementing the ECF-supported program and to reaching the HIPC completion point as soon as possible.

*Source: International Monetary Fund, IMF Country Report No. 10/115, March 24, 2010.*

---


_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/_cr10115.pdf_