Economy
Because of its status as a transport hub, Cotonou has become a crossroads of West African commerce, with much trade moving here from Abidjan because of the Ivorian Civil War. The city is a so-called "market town," enabling trade with the countries of the African interior, such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. In addition to the port, there is a free trade zone in the interior of the city for use by the landlocked Saharan states. However, the city is rife with corruption and illegal trade, especially with neighboring Nigeria. It can be considered the economic capital as it houses two-thirds of Benin's industries and is the headquarters of the nation's major enterprises and banks.
Important manufactured goods include palm oil and cake, brewing, textiles, and cement. Motor vehicles and bicycles are assembled, and there are also sawmills in the city. Petroleum products, bauxite, and iron are major exports. There are also offshore platforms drilling for oil. The city is also a center for the automotive trade, with European brands being sold from vast open-air parking lots. In the past, Citroën assembled cars (for instance, the Citroën 2CV and Ami 8) locally.
By 2012, Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea had significantly decreased trade at the port of Cotonou.
In the Missebo area, Cotonou is a textile market of African Print mainly handled by Indian wholesalers and retailers.
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Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)