India's Eximbank to loan $176.3 mln to Ivory Coast: Ivorian PM

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - India's Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) will issue a $176.3 million loan to Ivory Coast for public works initiatives, including projects in construction and information technology, Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan said on Wednesday. The loan was announced during a visit by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to the world's top cocoa and cashew producer, which issued two Eurobonds totalling $1.75 billion in 2014 and 2015. India is also expecting to open an Eximbank office in Ivory Coast this year, Duncan said. "The return of Eximbank India constitutes a significant advantage for the consolidation of this already excellent partnership," said Duncan, who added that the bank had left during his West African country's decade-long political crisis that ended in 2011. Trade between India and Ivory Coast rose from 221 billion CFA francs ($378.66 million) in 2010 to 513 billion CFA francs ($878.97 million) last year, an increase of 132 percent in five years, according to Duncan. French-speaking West Africa's largest economy is one of its fastest growing, with GDP growth expected to be 8.5 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. ($1 = 583.6400 CFA francs) (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Nellie Peyton and Mark Heinrich)