Alassane Ouattara

Alassane Ouattara took the oath of office on April 11, 2011, while French and UN armored vehicles encircled the presidential palace in Abidjan. The country's GDP had contracted 5.5% that year following a five-month civil war that killed 3,000 people. Ouattara, a former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 1994 to 1999, had served as Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from 1990 to 1993. He implemented a National Development Plan in 2012 that attracted $15 billion in foreign direct investment within four years. The government constructed 200,000 new housing units, three new universities, and the Henri Konan Bédié Bridge across the Ébrié Lagoon by 2018. Cocoa production increased from 1.2 million tons in 2011 to 2.1 million tons in 2020, maintaining the country's position as the world's largest producer. Ouattara's administration reduced the poverty rate from 51% in 2011 to 39.5% in 2020 according to World Bank data. He won re-election in 2015 and 2020, though opposition parties boycotted both polls. The International Criminal Court acquitted former President Laurent Gbagbo in 2019, a figure whose refusal to concede defeat had sparked the 2010-2011 crisis. Ouattara's economic restructuring created a regional financial hub in Abidjan, with the African Development Bank headquarters as its anchor.