ABIDJAN, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast has issued 120 billion CFA francs ($221 million) in bonds to finance its development, a lead manager told Reuters on Friday.

The auction includes 80 billion CFA francs in seven-year bonds at a 5.80% rate and a 40 billion CFA franc 10-year bond at 5.9%, said the lead manager from Sogebourse.

The bonds, which will be sold in units of 10,000 CFA francs, are being marketed to investors across West Africa’s CFA currency zone from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22, and will be sold on West Africa stock Exchange.

Ivory Coast, Francophone West Africa’s largest economy and the world’s biggest cocoa producer, recently tapped international bond markets and raised 1 billion euros in an issue that was five times oversubscribed. ($1 = 542.0800 CFA francs) (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly)

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