USA Africa Dialogue Series - Gbagbo's Finance Minister Denounces Business Closures

Ivory Coast Budget Minister Denounces BNP, Citigroup Closures

February 14, 2011, 8:28 AM EST

By Jason McLure and Olivier Monnier

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Justin Kone Katina, the budget minister of Ivory Coast's incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, denounced the closure of the local branches of BNP Paribas and Citigroup Inc. in the West African nation.

The closure wouldn't prevent Gbagbo's administration from continuing to pay its employees, Katina said in a statement on state-owned Radio Television Ivoirienne.

Citibank's office and BICICI, BNP Paribas' unit, where both closed when visited today in Abidjan, the commercial capital.

--Editors: Emily Bowers, Philip Sanders.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Accra on jmclure@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.