Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, Côte d'Ivoire will not experience an economic recession like some major countries in America and Europe.

Alassane Ouattara reassured his compatriots today after a ceremony to lay the first of two cocoa processing complexes.

He announced that Côte d'Ivoire will record a positive growth rate at the end of this year which will be between 1.5 and 2%.

"I want to tell you that thanks to these projects of this kind, next year, economic growth which this year will be between 1.5 and 2%, which is a miracle because most of the big countries, whether in America or in Europe are in recession. We are not going to be in recession, we will have a positive growth rate between 1.5 and 2%", specified the Ivorian Head of State.

Optimistic, Alassane Ouattara indicated that "next year projects of this kind will make it possible to reach a growth rate of 8%."

"Which means that it is an essential project, not only for economic growth, for exports, for investments, employment obviously for the industrialization of Côte d'Ivoire," he explained. .

First cocoa producing country in the world, Alassane Ouattara recalled that Côte d'Ivoire transforms almost 1/3 of its production, between 600 to 650 thousand tons.

He estimates that thanks to this project the country will go in two three years, towards a million tons of transformation, which is really excellent.

"Processing is added value, that is to say jobs for Ivorians and this is very important and also revenue for the state budget. That is to say that this project is very important and above all that it will cost 216 billion FCFA, which will be added to the volume of investments already made", insisted the Head of State.

He invited the government to work harder so that the country has a few more projects of this kind so that in 2025, Côte d'Ivoire can process 100% of its cocoa on its territory.