Ivory Coast projects CFA45.44bn in forgone EU import duties for 2026

Ivory Coast's finance minister has projected CFA45.44 billion in customs revenue forgone during 2026 under the fourth phase of a trade agreement with the European Union, as a parliamentary committee advanced a bill ratifying that phase on 4 November. The figure is a government forecast of duty exemptions, not an audited total of cash already lost or evidence of misconduct.

Finance and Budget Minister Adama Coulibaly presented the figure to the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Affairs Committee, according to the ministry's account of the meeting. The committee also unanimously approved a separate bill modernising banking regulation. KOACI, a local news outlet, reported that 40 of the committee's 43 members took part and voted in favour of both texts. Committee approval is not proof of final enactment by parliament.

The tariff measure concerns an ordinance implementing the fourth phase of the interim EU–Ivory Coast Economic Partnership Agreement. That phase began on 1 January 2026 and covers 1,074 additional tariff lines, bringing the total covered since the process began to 4,459. Qualifying EU-origin imports on those lines receive customs-duty exemptions. The reciprocal arrangement gives eligible Ivorian exports, including processed cocoa, coffee, fruit and canned tuna, duty-free access to the EU market.

The ministry distinguished the 2026 projection from historical estimates. Coulibaly said cumulative customs revenue forgone through 30 September 2025 under the first three phases was CFA28.43 billion, compared with an earlier forecast of CFA120.69 billion. He attributed part of that gap to relatively low use of the agreement, estimated at 13.5% in 2025. Those figures are not evidence that CFA92.26 billion was recovered, stolen or collected: the comparison is between an estimated counterfactual and a reported amount of foregone duties.

The separate banking bill, comprising 258 articles in 12 titles, would update the country's legal framework for financial services. The finance ministry says it would bring financial-technology companies, electronic-money activity and Islamic finance into the regulatory scope while strengthening depositor protections and the regional banking commission's supervisory and resolution powers. These are proposed legal provisions, not proof that enforcement has already changed.

The ministry says the trade agreement includes safeguards for sensitive industries and provisions intended to help domestic businesses adapt. Independent assessment of those safeguards, actual 2026 customs collections and the distribution of benefits among importers and exporters was not available in the documents reviewed. The projected tariff impact should therefore not be confused with an observed net fiscal or economic cost.

The next verifiable milestones are the final parliamentary votes, any Senate consideration, publication of enacted legislation and the finance ministry's subsequent customs-revenue accounts. A meaningful follow-up would compare actual exempted import values and collections against the minister's projection, rather than repeat the committee announcement.