Côte d’Ivoire: Public Policies to Avoid the Middle-Income Trap

In the postcolonial history of francophone Africa, Côte d’Ivoire stands out as a unique case. Few African countries have gone through so many different phases of development. Côte d’Ivoire’s economic history is marked by a succession of remarkable economic and social achievements, often qualified as an economic (1960–1980), followed by decades of economic failure (1981–2000), economic and social regression (2001–2010), and economic recovery and social hope (2011–2019). The succession of episodes of high economic growth and contraction has resulted in the changing status of Côte d’Ivoire from middle-income country (MIC) to low-income country (LIC) and back to middle-income country. There has not been a thorough rethinking of the current growth model and whether it can deliver on the legitimate ambition of the country to transition to upper-middle-income status and then to high-income status during the next two or three decades. The challenge is for the government to implement policies that deliver sustained growth and enable the country to avoid becoming trapped in its current lower middle-income status. There is a window of opportunity for Ivoirian authorities to develop and implement pre-emptive public policies to avoid the middle-income trap. These policies could be the foundation of a new growth and development model which focuses on the following pillars: (i) enhancing human capital; (ii) expanding and enhancing infrastructure; (iii) raising agricultural productivity through imitation (in a first phase) and innovation activities; (iv) improving the business environment; (v) promoting women’s participation to the labor market; and (vi) rethinking the role of the state.