The spokesman for the Government of Côte d’Ivoire has announced in a statement that the government plans to issue an international call for tenders as it seeks partners to take over the state-owned Versus Bank.
“We will soon launch an international competitive tender to find a bank specialized in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises,” Bruno Kone told reporters following a cabinet meeting in the commercial capital Abidjan.
The government decided to sell stakes in 15 companies, including the national telecoms operator, banks, agribusiness and a gold mine following PricewaterhouseCoopers cabinet report of 2013 which suggests a plan to reorganize the public companies in the country.
The spokesman reaffirmed the government’s disengagement policy in an interview with state-owned Daily “Fraternité Matin”.
“There are two logics: certainly, we are in a free market economy and government will continue its strategy of disengagement in productive sectors for the benefit of private sector; but government will keep a presence in banking sector to accompany its activities and finance the development of the country”, he said.
After a decade of instability, Côte d’Ivoire is now seen as one of Africa’s fastest growing economies along with countries including Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad.
Under President Alassane Ouattara, a former senior IMF official, the country has invested heavily in large-scale infrastructure as part of efforts to spur on growth.
The IMF is forecasting a real GDP growth of 7.7 percent this year and 7.8 percent in 2016 in Côte d’Ivoire.