The African Development Bank Group has approved on 13 July 2022 a $400,000 technical assistance grant to the Deposit and Consignment Office of Côte d'Ivoire (CDC-CI, a State bank handling official deposits).

The funding comes from the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund, a multi-donor fund administered by the African Development Bank.

The grant will help the CDC-CI to better support small and medium-sized enterprises to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and encourage entrepreneurial initiatives, particularly for women and youth. The funds will also support the preparation of a strategy paper to define the scope of intervention to assist SMEs; this will then be supported by a feasibility study to identify, prepare, and validate options for implementation.

As part of the capacity building, staff of the CDC-CI will also receive training and tools.

Ahmed Attout, Head of the Capital Markets Development Division of the African Development Bank Group, said: "Supporting institutional investors such as the Deposit and Consignment Office of Côte d'Ivoire with technical assistance and capacity-building projects is one of the Bank's strategic areas of intervention. The objective is to broaden and deepen the long-term financing ecosystem in our regional member countries."

"Contributing to the financing of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises is part of the Deposit and Consignment Office of Côte d'Ivoire's mission as a public interest investor," said CDC-CI Managing Director Lassina Fofana. "With this funding from the African Development Bank's Capital Markets Development Trust Fund, CDC-CI will accelerate the establishment of financing mechanisms for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in conjunction with the Ivorian banking and financial sectors. CDC-CI will contribute to the development of businesses that create wealth and jobs, especially for young people and women."

The capacity-building project would enable the Deposit and Consignment Office of Côte d'Ivoire to expand its investor base in the country's capital markets.

A public financial institution serving the general interest, the Deposit and Consignment Office of Côte d'Ivoire was created in June 2018. Its goals include mobilizing and managing public and private funds securely and contributing to the financing of the economy through general investments. The Deposit and Consignment Office of Côte d'Ivoire also plays an important role as an institutional investor in the regional financial market through its liquidity management operations.

About the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund:

The Capital Markets Development Trust Fund is a multi-donor grant mechanism designed to help build strong African capital markets and support the African Development Bank's efforts to mobilize domestic resources to finance Africa's development. Administered by the Bank, the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund is supported by the Ministries of Finance of Luxembourg and Foreign Trade and Cooperation of the Netherlands.