Côte d’Ivoire is being hit by COVID-19 with 916 confirmed cases and 13 deaths as of April 22, 2020.

The authorities adopted containment measures and an emergency health response plan alongside a package of economic measures to prop up the income of the most vulnerable segments of the population. The economic package, through agricultural input support and expanded cash transfers, provides relief to hard-hit sectors and firms and supports public entities in the transport and port sectors to ensure continuity in supply chains.

Côte d’Ivoire currently has 234 territorial authorities including 2 autonomous districts, 31 regions and 201 municipalities. With an average population of 121,000 inhabitants, local authorities contribute, together with the State, to the economic, social, health, educational, cultural and scientific development of the population and, in general, to the constant improvement of their living environment. The municipalities in particular are responsible for organising community life and the participation of the population in the management of local affairs, promoting and implementing local development, modernising the rural world, improving the living environment, managing the land and the environment.“Ethiopian workers in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Djibouti are being forced to flee to their country, a situation that is becoming a challenge to contain the virus,” said Tadesse.

Municipalities and local governments are key to deploying the Economic, Social and Humanitarian Support plan to local populations in response to COVID-19.

The Emergency health response plan of 96 billion CFA Francs (US$160 million) will:

1. Provide free care for the infected and equip intensive care units;
2. Strengthen epidemiological and biological surveillance (virus testing; creation of a free call center, rehabilitating and equipping laboratories);
3. Reinforce capacities of pharmaceutical industries and finance research on the virus.

Economic, Social and Humanitarian Support plan:

Economic, Social and Humanitarian Support plan valued at 1700 billion CFA Francs (US$2.81 billion), or about 5% of the GDP, is divided into three main axes:

• Business support measures
• The measures to support the economy
• Measures on social benefits for the population to maintain economic activity, relieve their cash flow and preserve jobs.

Support to the agricultural and food production sector:

The response plan to the COVID-19 pandemic provides the agricultural sector, such as cashew nut, cotton, rubber, oil palm, cocoa and coffee, with financial support amounting to 250 billion CFA Francs (US$410 million) and 50 billion CFA Francs (US$83 million) to support the food production sector, including 20 billion CFA Francs (US$33 million) for inputs.

The operationalization of this emergency programme will consist of public transfers taking into account, in particular price and income support, the provision of goods and services including fertilizer subsidies, plot development and seed distribution.

This mechanism will be accompanied by specific regulations adapted to the implementation of this programme. Also, due to the urgency and seriousness of the situation, the Ministerial Council decided to set up a simplified governance framework called the Interministerial Committee on Raw Materials (CIMP) headed by the Prime Minister. This Committee, extended to all Ministries concerned with the agricultural sector, will be supported by operational implementation units from the public and private sectors.

Leverage on access to credit:

The establishment of a specific support fund of 100 billion CFA Francs (US$170 million) for informal sector enterprises affected by the crisis. This measure will be continued after the crisis with simple taxation and terms and conditions on innovative financing.

Preservation of the production and employment:

The set-up of a private sector support fund of 250 billion CFA Francs, which will strengthen the support to SMEs with at least 100 billion CFA Francs and establish guarantee funds. The fund will provide businesses in difficulty with the necessary financial support for the preservation of production tools and employment, with a view to ensuring the balance of the national economy.

Monetary and macro financial measures:

The regional central bank (BCEAO) for the West-African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) announced: (i) an extension of the collateral framework to access central bank refinancing to include bank loans to prequalified 1,700 private companies; (ii) a framework inviting banks to accommodate demands from firms with coronavirus-related repayment difficulties to postpone due dates on debt service for a 3-month renewable period, without the need to classify such postponed claims as nonperforming loans (NPL); and (iii) measures to promote the use of electronic payments.

Social measures:

• Cover the electricity and water bills, to be paid from April to August 2020, for disadvantaged groups, i.e. households subscribing to the social electricity tariff and those billed only in the social bracket for water. This concerns more than one million households, i.e. around 6 million fellow citizens.
• Establish a solidarity fund of 170 billion CFA Francs (US$280 million) to finance the most vulnerable populations within the framework of emergency humanitarian support by widening the scope of social safety nets.

Blog entry written by Amadou Sy, amadou.sy@uncdf.org , edited by Nan Zhang.