Alassane Ouattara and family business

Alassane Ouattara was known as a rigorous economist when he was deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but has left this reputation behind since becoming president of Ivory Coast in 2011, as this West Africa Newsletter special report illustrates. After having denounced the family-orientated not to say clan-style management of his predecessors, Henry Konan Bedie and Laurent Gbagbo, the former Central Bank of West African States governor has been steadily opening up the doors of the state, public sector companies and the Ivorian economy generally to close relatives, including his son in law, nieces, brother and stepson, and friends. The appointments he makes are generally decided on a discretionary basis. Whether they involve cocoa, import control, presidential affairs or communication, they allow members of his inner circle to play prominent roles in all the country’s major economic sectors.