The Most Impressive Issuer in Africa award reflects the solidity of the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals and sound funding strategy, which helped it to stand out in an intensely competitive field. The Most Impressive Funding Official recognition, meanwhile, highlights Diaby’s outstanding expertise in guiding the country’s debt management office. But when asked about the drivers of Côte d’Ivoire’s stellar progress in debt management and capital markets, Diaby has no hesitation in pointing to a collective effort. “This success is a testament to the tremendous selflessness and commitment exhibited by the entire team at the Ministry of Finance and Budget,” he says.
Côte d’Ivoire started off the 2024 award year with a superb return to market. In January, the country re-opened the African international bond market after a two-year drought. That $2.6bn dual-tranche deal was coupled with a cross-currency swap and an extensive liability management exercise. This strategically refinanced several carefully selected private debt instruments — a perfect example of the precision with which Côte d’Ivoire’s DGF manages risks. Notably, one of the tranches was sub-Saharan Africa’s first and only ESG-labeled sovereign Eurobond, underscoring the country’s ability to lead on sustainable finance innovation.
Amidst a difficult market environment, Côte d’Ivoire’s prudent risk management and propensity for innovative structures underpin its winning strategy. For an issuer that has weathered many an economic headwind, the fact that the GlobalCapital award winners are chosen by the market is particularly meaningful. The DGF can be justifiably proud that, when asked to point to excellence, the international financial community has singled out Côte d’Ivoire and Lanciné Diaby as leaders.
This is an exceptional feat for the nation of 30 million people, which follows in the footsteps of other recent GlobalCapital award recipients such as the Saudi Public Investment Fund — one of the largest sovereign wealth funds — and First Abu Dhabi Bank, a leading investment bank in the Middle East and Africa. As a winner in the 2025 bond awards, the country deservedly stands alongside fellow recipients Goldman Sachs, Barclays, BlackRock and Moody’s.
A local currency first
Côte d’Ivoire’s more recent bond deals continue to mark it out as an issuer with a commitment to expanding the frontiers of sovereign finance. Its March 2025 dual-tranche issuance included a €335m equivalent local currency bond. This represented another first in Africa, and more importantly was the result of several months of in-depth conversations that led the likes of T Rowe Price and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to take on CFA currency risk.
Côte d’Ivoire’s core values of prudence and innovation have also permeated into the multilateral world. In late 2024, the World Bank approved a €500m partial credit guarantee product that the nation partly used to structure the world’s first debt-for-development swap : €400m credit-enhanced structured loan to conduct liabilities management, with a commitment to reinvest some €60m of savings into education projects.
For Diaby, these achievements are a direct result of the quality of the clear vision set forth by the country’s authorities, under the pragmatic leadership of President Alassane Ouattara. That vision led to the creation of the DGF in its current form in 2023. “My biggest pride has been to assemble a competent multidisciplinary team, which brings together an energizing mix of seasoned civil servants and experienced former private sector finance professionals,” says Diaby.
Looking ahead, the country aims to continue to capitalize on its positive macroeconomic outlook and innovative debt management approach to push forward its agenda to become an investment grade-rated country in the next few years. “We are now just two notches below investment grade,” says Diaby. “Reaching a higher rating is certainly one of our ambitions at the DGF.”