Côte d'Ivoire's FDI Asymmetry: Why the Region's Anchor Must Become a Regional Investor.
Côte d'Ivoire stands as the undisputed leader of foreign direct investment (FDI) within the UEMOA zone, holding nearly 30% of the region's total FDI stock. This dominance makes it not only the leading destination in the West African franc zone, but also the third-largest in ECOWAS (Agence Ecofin, 2022). In 2024, this trajectory accelerated dramatically, with FDI inflows reaching a record 2,293 billion FCFA (roughly $3.8 billion). This performance placed Côte d'Ivoire just behind Egypt and Ethiopia among Africa's top FDI recipients that year, and ahead of Morocco ($1.6 billion) and Nigeria, whose inflows fell 42% in 2024 (UNCTAD, Africa Regional Trends, WIR 2025). South Africa is a harder comparison to draw cleanly — its FDI depends on large, one-off M&A deals and listings rather than steady flows, so any given year can land far above or far below Côte d'Ivoire's figure. That said, Côte d'Ivoire's rise from under $1 billion a year before 2017 to $3....