Public Policies: Togo sustains its performances in the World Bank’s latest CPIA rankings
Tuesday, 15 February 2022 16:54 
(Togo First) - Togo is one of the four non-fragile countries where the quality of public policies and national institutions improved in 2020. This is according to the World Bank’s latest Country Policy and Institutional Assessment for Africa (CPIA) report covering the period from January to December 2020.
Indeed, "the non-fragile countries that recorded an increase in their overall score are Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Rwanda, and Togo. Rwanda solidified its position at the top of the ranking, with its overall score rising to 4.1 from 4.0 in 2019, and Togo continued to perform well overall on the CPIA, with a 0.2 point increase in its overall score to 3.5," the Bretton Woods institution said.
Togo’s overall score is both above the average in West Africa and the overall average in all 39 sub-Saharan African countries eligible for assistance from the International Development Association (IDA).
In detail, Togo's most important area of progress in 2020 is in Economic and Policy Management for Social Inclusion and Equity, with a score of 3.7, compared to 3.2 for its worst-performing area (Public Sector Management and Institutions).
"Togo has emerged as a strong reformer among IDA countries in the region in recent years," the World Bank indicates. "Before COVID-19, the government had taken a series of measures to maintain macroeconomic stability," it adds, emphasizing the positive impact of measures such as the Program-Budget approach, a "rapid and effective response to the COVID-19 shock to mitigate the economic and social impact of the pandemic," and the digitization of tax administration, which "helped contain the negative impact of the crisis on revenues, which would have been greater in the absence of these budget measures."
Overall, the country’s scores were above the averages of the IDA and the sub-region in the four main categories included in the CPIA (Economic Management, Structural Policies, Social Inclusion, and Equity Policies, Public Sector Management, and Institutions).
In these respective categories, Togo scored the following: 3.7 in economic management (against respective averages of 3.4 and 3.2 for West and Central Africa and the IDA), 3.3 in structural policies (against respective averages of 3.2 and 3.2 for West and Central Africa and the IDA), 3.7 in financial inclusion and social equity (still above average compared to the West and Central Africa average and the IDA average, both at 3.3), and 3.5 for gender equality (the IDA average is 3.3).
At the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) level, Togo ranked 12th out of 39, while it came 7th out of 20 in West and Central Africa. In SSA, Rwanda topped the ranking (with a score of 4.1) and Cabo Verde came first in West and Central Africa (with a score of 3.8).
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
