Since early 2022, the Ivorian government has been subsidizing prices at the pump.
The war in Ukraine has disrupted prices on the hydrocarbon market. To soften the blow, governments are forced to apply social measures. In Cote d’Ivoire, “for each liter of diesel purchased at 615 CFA francs, the state contributes 469 CFA francs. The subsidy is 285 CFA francs for each liter of premium gasoline sold at 735 CFA francs,” President Alassane Ouattara said on Saturday.
In his speech to the Nation on the eve of Independence Day, the Ivorian leader said that subsidies on the prices of petroleum products have cost the state about 500 billion CFA francs during the current year. This is why fuel prices in Cote d’Ivoire are among the lowest in the sub-region.
In addition, “we have temporarily capped the prices of several basic foodstuffs, such as refined palm oil, sugar, milk, rice, concentrated tomatoes, beef and pasta,” the Ivorian Head of State explained.
In addition, the government is making reforms to encourage the domestic private sector to invest in food chains, including the production of rice, cassava, plantain, sorghum, corn and soybeans.
“Our objective is to achieve food sovereignty, that is to say, to feed our populations essentially with Ivorian agricultural production at affordable prices,” Mr. Ouattara concluded.
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