USA Grants $66 Million to Côte d’Ivoire for Data Center Construction

Côte d’Ivoire is making data centers a priority in its digital sector. However, the implementation of such infrastructure requires massive funding, often beyond the State’s means, paving the way for partnerships and external support.

On Thursday, August 22, the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), the U.S. export credit agency, approved a $66 million loan guarantee to finance the construction of a national data center in Côte d’Ivoire. The project aims to strengthen the security and management of public information in the country while providing enhanced storage and processing capacity to support the national digital economy. According to EXIM’s statement, U.S.-based Cybastion Institute of Technology, LLC will supply the equipment needed to support the data center.

This initiative falls under the China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP), an EXIM framework designed to support U.S. technology exports in response to growing competition from the People’s Republic of China. It comes just days after the announcement of an additional $47 million in financing for the digitalization of Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. Together, these projects are expected to modernize the country’s digital sector.

According to the World Bank, the digital economy could generate more than $5.5 billion for Côte d’Ivoire by 2025 and exceed $20 billion by 2050, provided that both the public and private sectors invest heavily in the five key pillars of digital transformation: infrastructure, platforms, financial services, entrepreneurship, and skills.

It is worth noting that the country currently has a limited number of large-scale data centers, most of them concentrated around Abidjan and serving private sector players. The construction of another national data center should address both the growing demand for secure hosting of public data and the expansion of digital services for businesses and public administration.

(Agence Ecofin)