The second half of 2025 marked a defining chapter in Côte d’Ivoire’s financing strategy. In July, the country successfully issued a ¥50bn (approximately $340mn) Samurai bond, the first transaction of its kind by a Sub-Saharan African sovereign. The transaction featured a 10-year maturity and a highly competitive coupon of 2.3%, with the participation of some of the most prominent Japanese investors, including Japan Post Bank — reflecting the deepening confidence of the Japanese investor base in Côte d’Ivoire’s credit story.
In that same quarter, the Republic broke more new ground with a €433mn SLL, featuring the first-ever combination of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) guarantees, delivering AAA cover of 95% of principal and interest through two World Bank Group entities. The 15-year maturity, including a 10-year grace period, and an all-in cost 400 basis points below Côte d’Ivoire’s Eurobonds curve, confirmed what the DGF team had set out to prove about its ability to innovate and diversify its funding sources.
These GlobalCapital Awards are widely recognised as the most prestigious distinctions rewarding the best players in global financial markets. Receiving this recognition two years in a row, based on the votes of the world’s most reputable and active financial institutions, is a strong validation from the market of the expertise the DGF and the broader Ministry of Economy, Finance and Budget teams have built.
This is not surprising for the DGF, which many leading financial institutions now regard as a highly capable debt management office (DMO). It has demonstrated its capacity on multiple occasions to plan and execute complex transactions with a sense of timing, as though guided by an uncommon foresight of market conditions.
Indeed, Côte d’Ivoire’s two most recent Eurobond issuances, in 2025 and 2026, were both executed just before significant episodes of market volatility triggered by US Liberation Day and the outbreak of the Iran conflict. Furthermore, the Samurai bond issued by the DGF was executed ahead of monetary policy tightening by the Bank of Japan.
When asked about these well-timed transactions, Mr. Diaby quickly pointed out his team’s ability to map out its funding plan and adapt to changes in market conditions.
“We monitor markets very closely, maintain a constant dialogue with our financial partners and undertake the necessary preparatory work well in advance, so that when a favourable window emerges, we are in a position to act decisively and swiftly. What looked like good timing from the outside was, in fact, good preparation on the inside.”
Looking ahead, Mr Diaby indicated that the DGF’s agenda will continue to be driven by the vision set by His Excellency President Alassane Ouattara, which is reflected in the new National Development Plan (NDP), a five-year $200bn investment plan to transform the Ivorian economy.
This translates into two key priorities for the DGF. The first one is to unlock the financing power to execute the NDP, to which the public sector is expected to contribute 30% .
In that regard, the DGF wants to prioritise local currency financing solutions to strengthen debt sustainability. Côte d’Ivoire, which became the first African sovereign to issue a local currency-denominated Eurobond by an African sovereign last year, “is keen to continue developing the XOF offshore bond market, by extending maturities and increasing volumes of these instruments.” said Mr. Diaby.
In addition, the DGF considers the development of the WAEMU (West African Economic and Monetary Union) capital markets as essential to this agenda. In this regard, the WAEMU Council of Ministers and the World Bank Group recently launched the Joint Capital Market Program (JCAP), with the objective of increasing market liquidity, diversifying the investor base and broadening the range of available financial instruments across the region.
In recognition of Côte d’Ivoire’s leadership and the DGF’s pioneering work in this area, Mr. Diaby was appointed president of the steering committee of this initiative composed of senior representatives from WAEMU ministries of finance, regional regulatory institutions, the central bank and the World Bank Group.
The second priority supporting President Ouattara’s vision is to achieve investment-grade status. Côte d’Ivoire is well on its way, thanks to strong macroeconomic performance and rigorous management of its public finances, particularly its proactive debt management strategy. The country has already made measurable progress on this front. Following Fitch Ratings’ upgrade in December 2025, after similar upgrades from Moody’s and S&P one year earlier, Côte d’Ivoire now carries a BB / Ba2 rating from all three major agencies, positioning itself as the second best-rated sovereign in Sub-Saharan Africa.
To support this objective, the DGF intends to not only continue innovating and conducting liability management operations aimed at further improving debt sustainability, but go a step further by attempting to reprice Côte d’ivoire Eurobonds curves. A concrete illustration of this commitment came on May 29, 2026, when the government announced its decision to exercise the early redemption option on its 2032 US dollar Eurobonds, permanently retiring an illiquid instrument with $153mn outstanding. Beyond the direct impact on its debt profile, the transaction is expected to contribute to a cleaner and more efficient sovereign yield curve.
In parallel, the DGF is actively strengthening its investor relations unit and implementing the best international practices for engagement with investors and rating agencies. As part of this initiative, Mr. Diaby recently sent DGF teams to Morocco, the Philippines and Indonesia, three countries widely recognised as top performers in sovereign investor relations among emerging markets, to draw lessons from their best practices and adapt them to Côte d’Ivoire’s institutional context.
When asked about the key risks to and strengths for achieving those objectives, Mr. Diaby offered a characteristically balanced assessment.
On the risk side, he pointed to the potential spillovers from prolonged geopolitical crises, particularly the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, as exogenous threats that could weigh on financing conditions for emerging markets. Yet, he was quick to note that, under President Ouattara’s leadership, the Ivorian government has demonstrated a remarkable ability to mitigate external shocks successfully through sound budgetary responses.
As for the greatest strength, Mr. Diaby’s answer was unequivocal: the talented team he has built since taking the helm of the DGF three years ago.
“When I arrived at the DGF, my ambition was not simply to raise financing. It was to build an organisation capable of anticipating risks, innovating constantly and delivering to the highest international standards. Today, I believe we have built such a team.”