Ivory Coast has put its economy on track but could achieve more if it addressed governance challenges, said the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday.
“I complimented the authorities on the country's strong economic recovery, which the IMF is supporting through a three-year 615.9- million-dollar extended credit facility at zero interest rate,” said Christine Lagarde at a press conference in Abidjan, closing a three-day visit to the West African country.
While she saw a “second economic miracle” possible, Lagarde said more effort was needed to help low-income women and ensure political inclusion.
“Women are a real potential ... They have talent, they are brilliant and determined,” she said, adding that the majority of women in Ivory Coast are yet to see “equal education and employment opportunities.”
Ivory Coast had been hailed for its democratic governance and economic development for two decades, a course disrupted by post-electoral violence in 2010-11.
President Alassane Ouattara, however, resumed dialogue with global financial institutions and Ivory Coast completed an economic-reform program backed by the IMF and the World Bank.
As a result, the world's top cocoa producing country had 4.4 billion dollars of its debt cancelled last June. - Sapa-dpa