Côte d’Ivoire already sells electricity to its neighbours. A $322m programme backed by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation is meant to give it the grid to become West Africa’s power hub.
Côte d’Ivoire is already a net exporter of electricity to its neighbours, but its transmission network has fallen short of what the country wants to become. That is the logic behind the programme Parliament is about to ratify: $300 million from the US Millennium Challenge Corporation, plus a $22.5 million national contribution, to modernise power infrastructure over five years and strengthen the country’s place in the ECOWAS regional electricity market. The parliamentary committee approved the bill unanimously and ratification is expected before 12 November.
It is not the only move of recent days. On 30 October, in South Korea, the Africa Finance Corporation and the Green Climate Fund launched a $690 million programme for resilient infrastructure whose first phase includes Côte d’Ivoire alongside Angola, Benin and Nigeria. Its stated aim is to reach 5.2 million beneficiaries through projects in clean energy, water, health and food security.
Why it matters
The power grid is the bottleneck of industrialisation in West Africa. A stronger system lets Côte d’Ivoire sell more electricity to its neighbours and, above all, attract processing industries — cocoa, cashew, mining — that need reliable supply. For investors and contractors, the combination of MCC, AFC and the Sovereign Fund points to a pipeline of transmission tenders over the next five years.
Both operations fit into a larger architecture. The 2026–2030 National Development Plan foresees an investment programme of more than 114,000 billion CFA francs, roughly €173 billion, with 70% expected from the private sector. The 2027 budget bill now before Parliament grows 6.4% to 18,466 billion CFA francs and sets aside 100 billion to launch the new Sovereign Fund, designed to finance strategic infrastructure.
Sources: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse (27 Oct) · La Nouvelle Tribune (2 Nov) · Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Energy · Fraternité Matin and Abidjan.net (Oct)