In Côte d’Ivoire, deposits in microfinance institutions (MFIs) grew by 347% over a five-year period, from FCFA 72 billion in 2012 to 250 billion by the end of September 2017, according to figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
This trend was accompanied by a growth in outstanding credit over the period, which amounted to FCFA 250 billion compared to FCFA 57 billion in 2012, reflecting the renewal of the sector, affected by the decade of crisis the country has been through between 2002 and 2010. These figures confirm the results of a study by the Oxford Business Group (OBG), which indicated last June that the MFI customer base had more than doubled between 2014 and 2016 to reach 1.17 million accounts with deposits by the order of FCFA 210 billion (2016), up 66.5% over the period.
The microfinance sector has therefore registered a renewed dynamism, in line with the Ivorian economic upturn in recent years. […] With a banking penetration rate of 34%, including MFIs, microfinance’s development margin remains in relation to the 40% banking penetration rate in Ghana and the 75% in Kenya, according to OBG. By the end of March 2017, there were 53 microfinance institutions in Côte d’Ivoire.