Ivory Coast has announced this week that it will be launching a 160 billion CFA franc ($302.7 million) treasury bond in seven and 10-year tranches from Nov. 17 to Dec. 16.

A statement from the country’s treasury said the first tranche of the bond will be 80 billion CFA franc, yielding 3 percent a year over 10 years. It is to be used to clear state arrears to banks and insurance companies.

The second tranche of 80 billion CFA will be at 5.85 percent per year over seven years. The department said this will be used to finance investments announced in the 2014 budget. The bonds will be sold in units of 10,000 CFA francs to investors across West Africa’s eight-nation CFA zone.

Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer and French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy, has had a tremendously positive year with the economy growing 7.4 percent in 2014.

The positive performances have ignited investor’s interest, leading the country to issue several bonds this year to finance infrastructure projects. In July it issued a $500 million Euro bond, marking its first venture onto the international capital markets since defaulting on a previous Eurobond during a brief post-election civil war three years ago.

But the IMF has urged caution in the issuance of bonds by sub-Sahara African countries, warning that they could raise debt levels and undermine growth.

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