For all of your main concerns, I will set up a working group, so that proposals will be presented to me in the next two weeks," declared Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko to private sector players on Wednesday, September 16. 2020 at the auditorium of the Primature in Abidjan-Plateau.

According to the head of government, after receiving the concerns of business leaders, "we will then meet to review these recommendations". Before indicating that each party, that is to say the government and the private sector must play its part with confidence. For him, the State must work on the implementation of all the reforms for an attractive environment for investments. In view of this challenge, "I want to reassure you that we will do everything to guarantee a climate of security, an environment of trust to attract funding", he explained.

The Prime Minister wanted to reassure investors who still have a bad experience of post-electoral crises. "It is true that election periods are always and very often on the Continent, periods of tension, but I want to reassure you of our commitment, alongside the Head of State, to do everything possible to ensure that the presidential election is taking place in the best conditions. Trust us, trust Côte d'Ivoire," he said. According to the head of government, the private sector will remain the main driver of structural transformation of the Ivorian economy. This is why the government will work to further strengthen its partnership with this sector, which has made all the difference since 2011. “I personally undertake to meet with you at least twice a year, within the framework of the State Consultation Committee -private sector. We are going to adjust the economic support plan to make it a post-Covid-19 recovery plan, allowing us to erase the traces of this pandemic, over a period of two to three years,'' declared Hamed Bakayoko.

Long before, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adama Coulibaly took stock of the implementation of the economic support plan for Ivorian companies, on September 14, 2020. According to him, as part of the response to the coronavirus disease, companies benefited, from April 6 to July 6, 2020, from a moratorium which cost the State 45.1 billion CFA francs. About 25,000 companies and households have benefited from exemptions of about 57.9 billion CFA francs. “The State paid its supplier debt for an amount of 632.7 billion CFA francs to 6,235 suppliers and granted an allocation of 1 billion CFA francs to bars and nightclubs,” explained Adama Coulibaly.

The President of Ivorian employers, Jean-Marie Ackah meanwhile expressed some concerns of the private sector to the Prime Minister. According to Jean-Marie Ackah, the request for the renewal of certain measures, in particular those relating to the suspension of tax, customs and social controls, has not been made. "Today, on the contrary, the majority of our companies have received inspection notices," he suggested. For him, this complaint from the private sector is motivated by the fact that the measures related to COVID-19 have not been immediately operational and certain sectors which are barely recovering from health restriction measures still do not have any visibility on the effective resumption of their activities. Referring to the case of Business Support Funds in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic, the President of the General Confederation of Businesses of Côte d'Ivoire (CGECI) indicated that "out of the 250 billion promised to small and medium-sized businesses and large, only 15 billion CFA francs were injected into the economy five (5) months later. All this context leads us to reiterate the requests that I have come to make to you".