The World Bank Will Underwrite a Loan for Ivory Coast to Replace Costly Bonds
The World Bank flag flying high, representing ongoing economic influence and historical colonial ties in Africa.
This comess less than a year after the world’s biggest cocoa producer paid high rates to tap markets, as African countries struggle to escape expensive debt burdens. The west African nation will use cheap financing to buy back close to €400mn in bonds that will be up for repayment over the next few years and put the savings into public spending in the first such “swap” backed by the World Bank. The World Bank’s guarantee on the loan to Ivory Coast will help it save €60mn in debt service costs that can be spent on education. Ivory Coast was the first sub-Saharan African state to sell a US dollar bond in almost two years in January when it paid more than 8 per cent in borrowing costs to sell $2.6bn in debt.