Gross bad loans at banks and financial institutions in Côte d'Ivoire rose 23.1% from a year earlier to 1,134.5bn FCFA (€1.73bn) at the end of September 2026, lifting their share of gross loans to 7.5% from 6.5%, the regional central bank BCEAO said in its monthly statistics bulletin published November 6. Provisions fell 2.4% to 650.4bn FCFA (€992mn) over the same period.
Analysis: Provisions have not kept pace. Banks held 650.4bn FCFA against 1,134.5bn FCFA of gross bad loans in September, leaving 484.1bn FCFA (€738mn) unprovisioned, up 67% in a year. Coverage fell to 57.3% from 72.4%. Bad loans grew 3.3 times as fast as lending, which rose 6.9%, by our calculation. Côte d'Ivoire's ratio is still the second-lowest of the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) members after Benin, 2.8 points below the regional average of 10.3%. NSIA Banque and Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire both cited higher provisions in their nine-month results. The BCEAO's October bulletin, due in early December on its usual schedule, will show whether the rise continues.
Source: BCEAO (regional central bank, Dakar), BCEAO, Bulletin mensuel des statistiques – septembre 2026 (published November 6, 2026), September 2026; BRVM, NSIA Banque Côte d'Ivoire, Rapport d'activité au troisième trimestre 2026 (filed on BRVM October 30, 2026), January–September 2026