''Trade in goods and services between Côte d'Ivoire and the rest of the world resulted in a strong surplus of 533 billion F Cfa in 2019, against a relatively low level of 60 billion F Cfa'' declared the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adama Coulibaly this Wednesday, December 23 on the occasion of the 5th edition of the Day of dissemination of the 2019 external accounts of Côte d'Ivoire.

On the initiative of the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao), this day aims to present to all economic actors, in particular those who contributed to the supply of data, the main results of the external accounts of Côte d'Ivoire for the past financial year. These accounts make it possible to have the balance of payments which is a statistical statement which retraces in accounting form all the exchanges between the residents of an economy and the non-residents, during a given period.

It should be remembered that the balance makes it possible to assess the integration of the economy into its external environment, to identify imbalances and to understand how these are financed by the rest of the world. Clearly, the balance of payments represents the degree of openness of the economy to the outside, by shedding light on the country's attractiveness in terms of foreign direct investment, and identifying the causes of short-term macroeconomic imbalances. or structural, in order to possibly provide appropriate responses.
Minister Adama Coulibaly revealed during this session that the current balance, one of the main indicators for macroeconomic analysis of the balance of payments, showed a deficit of 790.3 billion CFA francs in 2019, or 2.3%. of the Gross Domestic Product, after recording a more pronounced deficit of 1,268.9 billion FCFA, or 3.9% of GDP in 2018.

“In view of these data, we can convince ourselves of the need to continue sectoral efforts with a view to improving the current balance of the balance of payments and the attractiveness of foreign private capital necessary for the sustainable financing of the needs of the economy. Ivorian economy," he said.
Adama Coulibaly noted in essence that the equilibrium of the balance of payments is highly dependent on export agriculture, subject to climatic vagaries and exogenous shocks on the international prices of agricultural, energy and mining raw materials. He also referred to structural deficits in services and income, with regard to international freight and remittances from workers abroad. In response to these concerns, "concerning agricultural and mining raw materials, I would like to reiterate the government's determination to accelerate the processing, on site, of our raw materials for which our country ranks first in the world"

Chalouho Coulibaly, national director of the BCEAO, for his part recalled the important role of the balance of payments in the field of economic analysis and which constitutes an essential instrument for the assessment of the competitiveness of an economy in terms of foreign trade and attractiveness of foreign capital flows. “It is, therefore, the reflection of the country's position with regard to its economic and financial relations with the outside world. This is why, at the end of the collection process, which made it possible to draw up the 2019 external accounts, I would like to acknowledge the valuable collaboration of business leaders. Indeed, despite the particularly difficult health context in 2020, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the taking of barrier measures by several targeted structures, business leaders responded favorably to our request so that the response rate stood at 88.1%, compared to 93.0% the previous year and 89.9% in 2018,” he said.