P 151401Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4854
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000035 
 
 
STATE FOR EEB/OMA, TREASURY FOR DPETERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN EAID PGOV PREL ECON IV
SUBJECT: FINANCE MINISTER DOCUMENTS PROGRESS MADE TO MEET 
HIPC CRITERIA 
 
REF: A) 2008 ABIDJAN 813 
 
1.(U) Embassy has received a letter dated January 6, 2009 
from Cote d'Ivoire's Minister of Economy and Finance, Charles 
DIBY Koffi, which outlines steps the country has taken to 
comply with conditions/criteria for the HIPC decision point. 
The letter, addressed to the Ambassador, covers concerns 
raised by the IMF/World Bank mission that visited Abidjan in 
October 2008, namely ex-budgetary expenditures, clearance of 
arrears to the African Development Bank (AfDB) and payment 
(in oil) for public works projects in the adminstrative 
capitol of Yamoussoukro.  The letter stressed Cote d'Ivoire's 
commitment to satisfying the concerns of the Bretton Woods 
institutions and solicits the support of the USG for debt 
relief.  An informal Embassy translation of the original 
French text follows in paragraph 2. Post is also transmitting 
the text in French to AF/W. 
 
¶2. (U)  Begin translation of text. 
 
To: Her Excellency the Ambassador of the United States in 
Cote d'Ivoire, Abidjan. 
 
Subject:  Information on the Economic and Financial Program 
of Cote d'Ivoire with the Partners for Development and 
Request for Support 
 
Excellency, 
 
The preliminary document of the enhanced initiative in favor 
of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) for Cote d'Ivoire 
has just been approved by the Boards of the International 
Monetary Fund and World Bank, respectively on 12 and 16 
December 2008. 
 
This decision follows the efforts undertaken by the 
Government since August 2007, in the framework of the 
implementation of the Emergency Post-Conflict Assistance 
(EPCA) Program.  It notably concerns: 
- the normalization of budget management; 
- communication to the Council of Ministers, and quarterly 
publication of the status of budget implementation, physical 
and financial flows of the energy sector and data 
(statistics) relating to the collection and use of levies on 
the coffee/cocoa sector; 
- gradual reduction in levies as special levies on coffee and 
cocoa; 
- adherence to the Extractive Industries Transparency (EIT) 
Initiative; 
- evalution of the system used to handle public finances and 
preparation of a reform plan, taking into account all the 
components. 
 
In addition, despite the state's financial difficulties, 
efforts have been made for the clearance of arrears to the 
World Bank (225 billion CFA francs) and to start the 
clearance of those to the African Development Bank, amounting 
to 50 billion CFA francs. 
 
The adoption of the preliminary document of the HIPC 
Initiative gives Cote d'Ivoire the possibility to reach the 
completion point of this initiative and conclude a medium 
term program supported by a Poverty Reduction and Growth 
Facility (PRGF), before the end of the first quarter of 2009. 
 
Considering what is at stake in this program, that is to say, 
the reduction in foreign debt, resumption of sustained growth 
and, therefore, viability of the fight against poverty, the 
government has made it a priority to implement all requests 
and recommendations relating to them.  This is why a diligent 
response has been given to the observations and reservations 
expressed at the conclusion of the October 2008 joint mission 
of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the 
African Development Bank. 
 
Those observations concerned budget overrun linked to major 
investment works by the state, the government's capacity to 
respect the quantitative indicators of the program, notably 
the primary basic balance and the level of social 
expenditures, and concerns for the clearance of arrears to 
the African Development Bank. 
 
The measures taken by the Government to address these 
concerns come down to the following: 
 
CONCERNING MAJOR PUBLIC WORKS INVESTMENTS BY THE STATE: 
 
- ordinance no. 2008-310 of November 3, 2008, amending the 
management of the national budget in 2008, permitted the 
integration of higher than planned levels of expenditures 
linked to public works invesmtments by the State; 
 
- a new procedure governing the budgeting for financing of, 
and execution of public work operations including the 
monitoring and evaluation of such operations, has been 
defined by the Prime Minister through Instruction no. 
001/PM/CAB of November 13, 2008 and Order no. 039/PM/CAB 
which creates the Inter-ministerial Committee for operations 
monitoring relating to major public works investments; 
 
- a framework of contradictory evaluation of the works 
carried out, including the National Consulting Firm for 
Technical Studies and Development (BNETD), the General 
Inspectorate of Finance and the operator, has been put in 
place. 
 
CONCERNING THE QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS OF THE PROGRAM, the 
measures taken at the budget execution level guarantee 
observation of the minimum social expenditures level and the 
attainment of the planned primary basic balance, that is to 
say, 0.8 percent of GDP.  Actually, state expenditures were 
frozen onNovember 24, 2008.  Thus the expenditures estimated 
at the end of November 2008 are almost definitive. 
 
CONCERNING ARREARS CLEARANCE TO THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, 
provisions are under way to finalize a financing operation 
that will permit the mobilization of resources needed to pay 
off the balance beyond the 50 billion (CFA) already paid by 
the Government. 
 
In addition, discussions continue about how to finalize 
negotiations so as to permit the presentation of  Cote 
d'Ivoire's dossier to the Boards of the International 
Monetary Fund and World Bank before the end of March 2009. 
 
In this framework, the understanding and the support of all 
the bilateral partners are necessary, so as to enable Cote 
d'Ivoire to complete the program, and thus, secure the 
conditions for sustainable peace. 
 
And, I would like to request, on behalf of the Ivorian 
Government, the support of the American authorities, notably 
within the Bretton Woods institutions, with a view to full 
resumption of cooperation with the international financial 
community. 
 
Reiterating my thanks to you for your constant support, 
please accept, Excellency, the expression of my distinguished 
consideration. 
 
DIBY Koffi Charles 
 
End of translation of text. 
 
NESBITT