The International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s lending unit, plans to invest $200 million in Ivory Coast this year, focusing on energy and small- and medium-sized businesses.

About $125 million is reserved for the expansion of the gas-fired Azito power plant, a venture that includes a unit of Electricite de France SA, based in Paris, and CDC Group Plc of London as shareholders, Cassandra Colbert, the IFC’s country representative, told reporters in the commercial capital, Abidjan, yesterday.

The IFC is investing $75 million in small- and medium-sized businesses, cocoa and cashew-nut farmers, and agri-business projects, Colbert said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan at bmieu@bloomberg.net; Pauline Bax in Accra at pbax@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emily Bowers at ebowers1@bloomberg.net