Ivory Coast rebounding faster than expected: IMF

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for growth in Ivory Coast on Thursday, citing a faster-than-expected rebound in industrial and agricultural production since the end of a post-election conflict.

The West African state's economy will grow 8 to 9 percent in 2012 after shrinking 5.8 percent in 2011, IMF mission chief Doris Ross told a news conference in Abidjan.

The IMF had previously forecast the economy in the world's top cocoa grower would shrink 7.5 percent in 2011 and grow 6 percent in 2012.

Ivory Coast, one of a handful of sub-Saharan African countries with a Eurobond, tipped into a violent crisis following a disputed election late last year, killing 3,000 people and grinding business to a halt.

Fighting ended in mid-April after incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo was arrested by fighters loyal to new President Alassane Ouattara, who won the poll according to U.N.-certified results.

The recovery has been faster than expected, with industrial production in June reaching 95 percent of its level a year earlier, as against 50 percent in April, Ross said.

The current agricultural season is also expected to be strong, she said.

Ivory Coast posted a record cocoa crop of more than 1.4 million tonnes this season thanks to ideal growing weather.

Ross said the IMF's Executive Board would consider providing $614 million in an extended credit facility support to Ivory Coast as early as November.

She said the country needed to focus on reforms, particularly in the coffee and cocoa sector, to reach the completion point for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

Ivory Coast's government said this week it was planning cocoa sector reforms that would guarantee farmers a minimum selling price. A raft of other reform proposals will be unveiled within three months, it said.