Adopted after a decade marked by political-military crises, the National Development Plan (PND) 2016-2020 set an overall objective that was as symbolic as it was structuring, namely to make Côte d'Ivoire an emerging country by 2020 with a solid industrial base. It built on the achievements of the 2012-2015 PND, whose average annual growth in real GDP had reached 9% with more than two million jobs created in four years. The challenge of the new plan was of another nature, that of profoundly transforming the country's economy, by providing it with a competitive manufacturing industry, capable of valorizing its raw materials and sustainably reducing poverty. The specific objectives of the PND 2016-2020 covered a broad spectrum such as achieving strong, sustainable, equitable and job-creating growth, significantly improving the living conditions of populations, strengthening good governance and developing infrastructure harmoniously distributed throughout the national territory. More than a simple investment program, this plan was intended to be a road map towards a new development model.

Five axes to transform the nation

The PND 2016-2020 strategy was structured around 5 major complementary strategic axes. The first focused on strengthening the quality of institutions and governance, a sine qua non condition for attracting investors and ensuring the effectiveness of public policies. The second aimed to accelerate economic development through industrialization, in particular the valorization of agricultural raw materials and the diversification of the industrial productive apparatus. The third axis focused on the development of human capital and the improvement of basic social services, recognizing that economic emergence could not be built without an educated, healthy and socially protected population. The fourth axis targeted the development of quality infrastructure (roads, ports, energy, digital) to open up the regions and connect the country to the global economy. Finally, the fifth axis promoted the strengthening of regional integration and international cooperation, making Côte d'Ivoire a hub in the heart of West Africa.

An unprecedented financial mobilization

The overall volume of the PND investment program 2016-2020 amounted to 30,000 billion FCFA, the equivalent of 50 billion US dollars. This colossal amount illustrated the government's confidence in its ability to mobilize public and private, national and international resources. The distribution was indicative of an assumed liberal orientation. Some 37.6% borne by the public sector, representing 11,284 billion FCFA, compared to 62.4% expected from the private sector, or 18,716 billion FCFA. To cover the specific needs of public investment, international donors announced during the Consultative Group commitments totaling 7,700 billion FCFA, including 6,350 billion in new financing. The total financing need for public investment over the 2017-2020 period stood at 4,425.2 billion FCFA, or 7.4 billion dollars. This mixed financial architecture, combining the State budget, technical and financial partners, domestic and foreign private investors, constituted an innovation compared to previous planning models. 2016-2020 saw tangible results, although uneven across sectors. From the first year of execution, the rate of achievement of commitments stood at 38%, with private investment representing 66.9% of the total against a slightly different initial forecast. On the macroeconomic level, Côte d'Ivoire has maintained sustained growth dynamics, consolidating its position among the best performing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. In the social sector, notable progress has been recorded, with the construction and rehabilitation of classrooms, the extension of health coverage and the gradual reduction of monetary poverty, consistent with the decline in multidimensional poverty observed in 2018. The development of economic infrastructure has also progressed, with investments in roads, energy and digital technology making it possible to open up several regions of the country. However, the central objective of achieving emergence by 2020 with a fully developed industrial base was not fully achieved within the set deadlines. The structural transformation of the economy, advanced industrialization and the reduction by half of the poverty rate remained unfinished projects, which the PND 2021-2025 will have the mission of extending. Côte d'Ivoire for the coming decade. It laid the foundations for progressive industrialization, strengthened the culture of strategic planning within the State, and anchored in mentalities the idea that emergence is not a utopia but a continuous process. Successively relayed by the PND 2021-2025, then by the PND 2026-2030 with the ambition of 175 billion euros of investments, this five-year plan will go down in Ivorian economic history as the first serious attempt to break with an extroverted and untransformative growth model. The Ivorian emergence, a long-term work, is being built plan by plan, brick by brick, under the vision of the President of the Republic, H.E Alassane OUATTARA.