The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has released its Côte d’Ivoire Country Brief, providing an in-depth examination of the West African nation’s macroeconomic outlook, regional and international trade dynamics, financial sector development and debt sustainability profile.

The brief highlights Côte d’Ivoire as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. Home to 33.5 million people and with a nominal GDP forecast at USD116.9 billion in 2027, the country has sustained average real GDP growth of around 6.5% per year between 2021 and 2024, accelerating to an estimated 6.6% in 2025. Growth is forecast to moderate to 5.8% in 2026 before rebounding to 6.2% in 2027, supported by rising crude production, continued infrastructure investment and resilient domestic demand.

The brief also points to a notably improved near-term macroeconomic environment. Inflation fell sharply to just 0.1% in 2025, supported by easing commodity price pressures and government measures to stabilise fuel and food prices, with the CFA franc’s euro peg providing a durable exchange rate anchor. The fiscal deficit narrowed to 3% of GDP in 2025, meeting the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) ceiling, backed by stronger revenue collection and ongoing reforms to tax administration and VAT digitalisation.

On trade, this edition charts a significant expansion. Total trade surged from USD26 billion in 2018 to USD57 billion in 2025, anchored by Côte d’Ivoire’s status as the world’s largest cocoa producer, commanding around 40% of global supply, alongside growing exports of cashew nuts, rubber, gold and hydrocarbons.

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The February 2026 Calao South gas condensate discovery and rising output from the Baleine field signaled a broadening export base over the medium term. Strategically positioned on the Gulf of Guinea, with the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro acting as principal gateways into Francophone West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire is deeply embedded in regional trade networks, with African markets accounting for around 22% of its goods trade in 2025.

The brief further notes Côte d’Ivoire’s financial sector strength. The country holds the largest banking sector in UEMOA, accounting for more than a third of regional banking assets. Regulatory reforms, including the adoption of Basel II and Basel III standards, have strengthened supervision and resilience, while the launch of the Central Bank of West African States’ (BCEAO) interoperable instant payment platform in September 2025 is broadening access to digital financial services across the economy.

As this edition notes, Côte d’Ivoire “has moved from a period of rapid debt accumulation and elevated debt service pressure towards a more stable debt profile, supported by fiscal consolidation, active debt management and continued multilateral engagement.” This is a trajectory that positions the country to fully capitalise on the ambitious targets of its 2026-2030 National Development Plan.

Afreximbank’s Group Chief Economist & Managing Director Research commented: “Côte d’Ivoire is consolidating its position as a leading West African growth and trade hub. Its expanding energy sector, world-class agricultural base, regional port infrastructure and increasingly sophisticated financial system offer a strong foundation to attract investment, scale value addition and deepen trade links across Africa.”

With a view to boosting the economy through job creation and technology transfer, the Nigerian government is considering direct government-to-government oil and gas partnerships with her Indonesian counterpart.

The President of the Nigerian-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI), Ishmael Balogun, made the disclosure on Saturday in Lagos adding that the initiative could unlock billions of dollars in investment.

After the Indonesian 41st Trade Expo, which attracted hundreds of Nigerian delegates, Balogun pointed out that it would also deepen bilateral trade and investment.

He said that Indonesia currently buys about $3bn worth of Nigerian crude oil annually, adding that shifting from third-party transactions to direct government-to-government arrangements could unlock investment opportunities in oil exploration and other sectors.

“Indonesia has been buying crude from Nigeria, but they are buying it from a third-party kind of relationship. But this time around, we’re looking at a relationship where they can do a G2G, which opens up a lot of opportunities in exploration,” he said.

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According to Balogun, direct investment in exploration would generate wider economic benefits for Nigeria beyond the revenue derived from conventional trade.

“If you have an idea of the amount of money that is invested to explore for oil, that means jobs will be created for the common man in Nigeria. There will be knowledge transfer; there will be income that will be earned,” he added.

He described the proposed partnership as a mutually beneficial arrangement capable of attracting Foreign Direct Investment and strengthening economic relations between the two countries.

“Trading is good. Trading is what trading is. You buy, you go. But when it comes to exploration, life changes. And the level of investment we’re talking about is in billions of dollars that affect literally every single body in Nigeria that’s involved,” Balogun said.

He disclosed that more than 25 Indonesian government representatives had visited Nigeria less than a month before the interview to explore opportunities for closer cooperation in the energy sector.

The delegation included representatives of Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina, its renewable energy and exploration divisions, as well as the country’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Balogun said the delegation met with Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

He expressed optimism that the engagements would translate into concrete investment agreements and stronger cooperation in the energy industry, adding that both countries had recorded significant growth in bilateral trade over the years, with the value increasing from $2bn in 2020 to $2.7bn in 2021, $2.9bn in 2022 and $4.5bn in 2023.

He said Nigeria had maintained its position as Indonesia’s leading trading partner in Africa since overtaking South Africa in 2020.

Balogun said the chamber also facilitated transactions among its members, valued at more than N1bn annually.

According to him, Nigerian businesses import pharmaceutical products, palm oil, electronics and fast-moving consumer goods from Indonesia, while Indonesian companies source agricultural commodities from Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Prime Minister Logistics, Giorgio Enrico Del Celo, said international trade exhibitions provided opportunities for Nigerian businesses to establish connections with potential partners and expand into new markets.

Nigeria’s telecommunications space can boast of more than 1,000 fifth-generation network sites in 2026 from one of the top service providers.

The Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, made the disclosure on Friday in Lagos, pointing out that the telco has been expanding its infrastructure to meet growing demand for faster mobile connectivity and improve service quality across the country.

Balsingh spoke during the launch of Airtel Open Network, a new feature on the My Airtel Africa app that gives subscribers greater visibility into network performance and a digital channel to report service issues.

It was gathered that the expansion forms part of the company’s broader network investment programme, which has taken its total number of network sites beyond 17,000, following the addition of more than 1,050 sites in the last financial year.

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The deployment comes as telecommunications operators face increasing pressure to improve network capacity and coverage amid rising demand for mobile data, digital financial services and other internet-dependent activities.

According to Balsingh, the company’s infrastructure investments were aimed at extending connectivity and improving the experience of customers who rely on mobile networks for business transactions, education, communication and other daily activities.

“During the last financial year, Airtel Nigeria added more than 1,050 new sites and has surpassed 17,000 sites nationwide. This year, 2026 alone, Airtel has added more than 1,000 5G sites to date, expanding access to high-speed connectivity across the country,” he said.

Alongside network expansion, the operator is introducing digital tools to improve how it identifies and responds to service complaints.

The newly launched Open Network feature allows subscribers to engage with information about their network experience and submit feedback that could help the company’s technical teams identify the location and nature of connectivity problems.

Balsingh noted that conventional complaint channels, including call centres and physical customer service outlets, sometimes made it difficult to obtain sufficiently precise information about network challenges.

He explained that the digital platform would provide more detailed feedback, helping engineers investigate reported problems and direct attention to areas where improvements were needed.

However, he cautioned that the platform would not automatically repair network faults or eliminate service disruptions, describing it instead as an additional channel for gathering information and improving the company’s response.

Airtel is also expanding its physical customer service network, with more than 225 premium experience stores, and plans to increase the number to 500. It operates over 9,000 exclusive shops across local government areas and has more than 73,000 retail agents nationwide.

The launch builds on the company’s deployment of an artificial intelligence-powered spam alert service in March 2025.

Balsingh added that the service flagged more than 9.6 million suspected spam messages within its first two months.