By Denis CHEMILLIER-GENDREAU and Géraldine MERMOUX, FINACTU Group
As Côte d’Ivoire approaches a new major political deadline, with the presidential election on October 25th, many commentators praise the achievements of President OUATTARA and his various governments in terms of infrastructure (nearly 2,000 km of roads rehabilitated since 2011, nearly 40,000 km of rural tracks back in service, 2,000 km of new roads, and 442 bridges and interchanges), economic dynamism (around 7% average annual growth over the period 2011-2025), and the control of key economic aggregates (inflation, budget deficit, and trade deficit under control).
We could not expect less from a former Deputy Managing Director of the IMF…
Overall, since 2011, Côte d’Ivoire’s GDP per capita has doubled, making the country of elephants the richest country in West Africa today.
However, in this chorus of praise, some discordant voices sometimes soften the harmony of compliments by emphasizing the need for inclusive growth. For example, an economist recently regretted, “Côte d’Ivoire must turn its growth into shared prosperity,” while an African television channel headlined “Côte d’Ivoire: under President Ouattara, an economic boom and persistent inequalities.” Some Ivorians sum it up, with their characteristic humor, as “we don’t eat asphalt.”
We have had the privilege of advising Côte d’Ivoire for nearly 20 years in all aspects of social protection, both at CGRAE (the pension fund for civil servants) and at CNPS (the private sector fund) or CNAM (the health insurance fund). Drawing on this experience, we want to testify by examining the comments on President OUATTARA’s record in light of the projects undertaken in this field, and the results obtained since 2011. This is not about taking a partisan stance, but simply about providing the testimony of a lived experience, and shedding light, rigorously and independently, on the debate on the economic and social development of Côte d’Ivoire since the post-electoral crisis of 2010.
Let’s start with the projects undertaken, first of all. Politics is ungrateful, but it is not useless to recall here in what disastrous state President OUATTARA, newly elected in 2011, found Ivorian social protection:
– The fund dedicated to the private sector – CNPS – was on the verge of collapse, accumulating unsolved deficits, limited to a tiny minority of workers, and leaving out non-salaried workers and those in the informal sector.
– Civil servants did not really have an institution to manage their social protection (CGRAE then having no real autonomy), itself in structural deficit.
– Health insurance did not yet exist, depriving Ivorians of social protection that countries like Mali, Senegal, or Gabon had already had for several years.
– The vast majority of Ivorians (non-salaried workers, artisans, traders, liberal professions, etc.) therefore had no social protection. Faced with this wall of problems, President OUATTARA has embarked on reforms with order and method, but also with consistency:
– Reforming the existing to improve the future. In 2011, he adopted – by Ordinance and cleverly taking advantage of the tumult of the post-crisis period – the major pension reform affecting both the private sector (CNPS) and the public sector (CGRAE). At a time when so many countries around the world are struggling with the difficulty of this impossible pension reform, how can we not salute the foresight of a President who, barely elected, took on the responsibility of such a reform? He had clearly understood the urgency of the situation, dictated by the magnitude of the crisis. But he had also measured the leeway that this reform would give to Côte d’Ivoire. Since the 2011 reform, the two concerned funds – CNPS and CGRAE – have been posting surpluses, which have made them, in a few years, the leading institutional investors in West Africa. And the good news keeps coming: the surpluses have allowed for significant increases in social benefits and, on the financial front, substantial investments. The most emblematic of these investments is undoubtedly the acquisition, by both CNPS and CGRAE, of the BNP Paribas subsidiary when the French bank decided to leave West Africa in 2022: this great gesture of economic nationalism, which puts a giant of the national banking sector back in Ivorian hands, would never have been possible without the 2011 reform.
– Creating health insurance for all. The creation of the Universal Health Coverage (CMU) was part of President OUATTARA’s campaign promises in 2010. As early as 2014, the birth of the National Health Insurance Fund transformed this promise into a tangible reality, offering populations a basket of adapted care, covering the country’s main epidemiological needs. Thus, the principle of universal social coverage is established, literally covering all populations.
– Expanding social security to all Ivorians. Beyond the CMU, another social victory of President OUATTARA can be seen in the extension of social protection to informal economy workers, through the creation of the Independent Workers Social Security Scheme (RSTI), implemented as early as 2019.
By adopting this bold reform, Côte d’Ivoire positions itself as a pioneer in extension in West Africa, just ahead of Morocco, which did the same in 2022. In doing so, Côte d’Ivoire acknowledges the inability of the system inherited from the colonial period to serve the immense national workforce: if these workers do not naturally turn to social security, it is up to the latter to reach out to its workers, offering them a new, tailored regime, adapted to their needs, habits, and constraints. This is the RSTI!
– Opening the pension system to Capitalization. In 2020, President OUATTARA made Côte d’Ivoire the first francophone country in West Africa to establish a complementary Capitalization pension scheme for its civil servants, confirming the attention he pays to those who put their energy at the service of the State.
– Preparing for the future. As he runs for a new term, President OUATTARA now has spectacular new projects in store, prepared by the Minister in charge of social protection, Master Adama KAMARA, and the Directors General of the funds:
– at CNPS, two new schemes (unemployment insurance and retirement savings for housing) in preparation could further strengthen Côte d’Ivoire’s role as a “social pioneer”;
– at CGRAE, the teams are preparing various extensions of social protection for as-yet uncovered populations (especially local elected officials), and the safeguarding of civil servants’ social protection through a Social Protection Code dedicated to them, gathering all protective provisions concerning them.
Regarding the results obtained, Côte d’Ivoire can highlight the dazzling successes resulting from this unparalleled reform train in Africa, reminding us that a well-managed country can both build roads or bridges and take care of the modest populations:
– At CNPS, we will praise a generous policy of revaluation: since 2011, social benefits have increased more than 6 times (+35.5% in total), the minimum pension has just been doubled, and the President has established a permanent “thirteenth month” for retirees. We will also not fail to highlight the success of the RSTI, measured by its enrollment rate: in just a few years, over a million more Ivorians will be able to benefit from a proper retirement. Salaried workers on the continent, who make up the vast majority of the workforce and who remain, elsewhere, without social protection, envy the Ivorians…
– At CGRAE, we will applaud the revaluation of family allowances (a first since … 1960!), made possible by the institution’s good health. We will not fail to highlight the exceptional progress in quality management, confirmed by demanding certifications. We will rejoice at the pace of deployment of the institution’s branches, in all regions of the country, to be as close as possible to the populations. And we will recall that CGRAE has enrolled more than 124,000 civil servants in the “complementary retirement.”
– For CNAM, finally, we will emphasize the incredible pace of enrollments in the health insurance scheme: thanks to President OUATTARA’s reform, the number of Ivorians covered by a social protection scheme has increased from less than a million in 2011 to nearly 21 million in 2025.
Unsurprisingly, these bold reforms have led to a significant reduction in the poverty rate, which has decreased from 51% in 2011 to around 35% today.
As we can see, Côte d’Ivoire can be proud of an exceptional social protection system, both in the systematic nature of its design, in exemplary implementation, and in the tangible results obtained. It would be very unfair, towards all the actors of these flamboyant successes, foremost among them President OUATTARA, if the ongoing election campaign did not seize the opportunity to highlight what all of Africa calls “the Ivorian social protection miracle”!
