In Côte d’Ivoire, to cope with soaring wheat prices and inflation aggravated by the war in Ukraine, the government has announced a number of measures, particularly around bread. Bread is a widely consumed food in Côte d’Ivoire. The price of the baguette is also fixed by the State.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Peter Pinto
If Côte d’Ivoire is less dependent on imports of Russian and Ukrainian wheat than some of its neighbors, she suffers full force like everyone else the consequences of soaring wheat prices on the international market. The country, a big consumer of bread, imports nearly 500,000 tons of wheat a year. The government has therefore announced the abolition of customs duties on imported wheat, taxed until then at 5% on entry into the country, as well as financial support for those involved in the production of wheat flour.
How long will these aids last? And how much is this “financial support”? No details for the moment, but the government wishes to reduce the risk of shortages. Also among the announcements: guarantee lines for the bakery sector as well as subsidies for “ one to two billion CFA francs said Wednesday the government spokesman, Amadou Coulibaly, who also mentioned the launch of a study on taxation adapted to the bakery.
But the most emblematic measure concerns the very symbolic baguette, the price of which has been set by the State for years at 150 F. Recently, bakers’ organizations have been calling for an increase in the price of the baguette. The government chooses to maintain its price at 150 F, but to reduce its weight by about thirty grams, at 174 g. A larger baguette of 232 g will be offered at 200 F.