Despite its relatively small size, Togo has great touristic assets - unique landscapes spread across the country’s five regions, globally-recognized monuments and sites (one of which is listed in the UNESCO’s world heritage sites), and a 45km coastline with beautiful fine sand beaches, bordering the atlantic ocean. All these make it a truly diversified touristic destination.

Diversified also is the country’s hospitality offer, with more than 500 facilities registered - that is without taking into account, both high and low standing guest houses. And while it happens that a large number of these facilities are located in the Maritime and Plateaux regions, each region has at least one major hotel with large accommodation capacities. Few examples are the Hotel 2 Février, the Sarakawa and Onomo hotels which are in Lomé, or the 30 Août hotel in Kara (northern region).

Such a wide range of facilities fosters the dynamism of Togo’s tourism industry. This sector, let’s note, highly contributes to the country’s GDP (8%) and to job creation also.

Regardless, Togo has greater ambitions and to achieve those, it has decided to make big changes in this sector. The country seeks to raise tourism’s contribution to the GDP to at least 10% by 2022, creating in parallel a minimum of 10,000 decent jobs in the industry by then.

“Go To Togo”: Promoting tourism at all costs
To achieve its goals, Lomé focuses on promoting and developing seaside, cultural, sport tourism and ecotourism, with a particular accent on blue tourism.

Another touristic segment which the government looks to develop more and more is business tourism. Authorities actually want to make Togo a regional hub in this regard and it seems that its efforts in this framework have been paying off. In 2017 for example, the country was ranked second best (after Egypt) in regards to the increase in international tourist arrivals (+46%). The next year, the number of these arrivals soared another 26% compared to 2017, with 712,000 tourists registered. Meanwhile, the hospitality sector generated XOF48 billion that year (thus XOF3 billion more than in 2017).

Togo is also more open to tourists, according to various reports and global rankings (WTO, AfDB, Jumia).

Still in line with its ambition to develop tourism, Togo wants to increase the rate of visitors per 100 locals to 5 by 2022, against 3.2 in 2015. Regarding revenue per visitor, Lomé eyes nearly $700 by 2022, from $520 in 2015.

These objectives will require Togo to engage into a quality-improvement quest, to forge its touristic identity - by focusing on blue tourism - and to clearly position itself as a tourism destination, by taking more initiatives similar to its “Go to Togo” concept. 

The government also wants to better diversify, increase and valorize its hospitality and tourism offers. This should be done through systematic labeling and rating, facilitation of investments, and by consolidating the legal and organizational frameworks of the industry.

To this end, multiple steps were taken throughout 2019 to lay the foundations for the restructuring of tourism in Togo. For example, the country was represented at many major events worldwide, and hosted some first-class business events; it even organized the first national forum on tourism.

As a savanna area, Togo’s Far North is rich in historical and cultural treasures. Most of the sites it is home to are listed as UNESCO world heritage sites. Some of the sites in this area that attract tourists the most include the Fosse aux Lions national park, the cave paintings of Namoudjoga, Oti’s alluvial plains, and the Mandouri game reserve.

With its rich fauna and flora, the Kara region is another well-recognized tourism destination. It is characterized by a great biodiversity and appealing landscapes. Amongst the latter, there is the Koutammakou landscape (on the World Heritage list) which is home to the Batammariba and their impressive mud tower houses; the blast furnaces of Bandjéli; and the natural reserves of Kéran and Sarakawa. The Kara region is also a place where folklore has a dominating presence, a place where traditional feasts and dances are still usual (Akpéma and Evala).

With its relatively flat landscape, the Central region also has many cultural assets, the most important being the Fazao-Malfakassa national park where many safaris are organized. The region is also well-known for housing various artisanal activities.

Without any doubt, the Plateaux region is the most appreciated by nature lovers. It is Togo’s main touristic and artisanal center. Some of its most attractive sites include Château Viale, the Kamina station, the Agou peak, the waterfalls of Kpimé and Akrowa, and the Djogbégan monastery.

While its main asset is its beautiful coast, the maritime region has many other attractions such as public parks, museums, private and public art centers, barter and fetish markets, slave houses, classified forests, architectural landmarks, which make it a very diversified and rich touristic destination. The climate in this region is cool and mild. It has a lush vegetation and multiple waterfalls.

In the past 10 years, Togo has undertaken various projects to modernize its infrastructures, and subsequently the economy. These include the construction and rehabilitation of roads, works to improve the autonomous port of Lomé, and a new airport terminal.

Ports
The only deepwater port in West Africa is the autonomous port of Lomé. It is the only one that can receive third generation ships. The infrastructure was inaugurated on April 26, 1968 but only began operations May 1st, the same year.
Two years ago, the port handled 1.4 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) - a traffic that made it the leader in the Gulf of Guinea area. In 2019, the infrastructure won, for the third consecutive year, the awards for best transhipping port in West and Central Africa. Transhipping, which represented only 5% of the port’s total traffic in 2012, recorded a stunning boom to stand at 64% of this traffic at the end of 2019.

Back in 2017 already, the port of Lomé overtook Lagos’ in terms of container traffic. In 2019, it stripped Abidjan of its leadership on the transhipping segment.

The port owes the various achievements to massive, and sustained, investments made in recent years.

Indeed, in 2013, an SFI-led consortium spent €225 million in the construction of the Lomé Container Terminal (LCT). The latter came online a year later and subsequently drove the port container traffic from 311,500 TEU in 2013 to 1.4 million TEU at the end of 2018. Let it be emphasized that a world leading shipping and logistics company, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), is a stakeholder in LCT via its subsidiary, Terminal Investment Ltd.

In 2014, a third dock, financed by the Bolloré group (XOF300 billion), was commissioned. Its length and depth are respectively 450 m and 15 m. It has two berths and can receive 7,000 TEU containers.

Last year, MSC announced it would invest €500 million in the Lomé Container Terminal with as goal a substantial increase in the container traffic, to 4 million TEU per annum.

These various investments are leaned to a dynamic road development strategy.

Beside these, other major projects are underway to modernize the port of Lomé and boost its activities, in line with Togo’s national development plan (PND). Amongst these, there is the installation of a multipurpose logistics platform and a number of logistics facilities. Regarding the multipurpose platform, the project which is led by the Togo Invest Corporation is well advanced. It includes a road accessing the port, a checkpoint station at the boundary of the port area, and a park for trucks and other vehicles. A railroad going from Lomé to Cinkassa should also be built to facilitate the movement of people and goods between the two locations. This infrastructure will also improve transportation of containers to Sahel countries, and thus greatly boost logistics in Togo.

Another project includes a 100-ha dry port that should be built around Cinkassé (at the Togo-Burkina Faso border). It aims at containerizing and reinforcing the transportation corridor between Lomé and Cinkassé.

In April 2019, a new dry fishing port, in Gbetsogbé (about 10km from Lomé), was inaugurated. The facility can receive up to 300-400 pirogues, and host 3,000 fishermen, and 5,000 fishmonger and fish processors.

A private port was also built in Kpémé, 35 km south-east of Lomé. It has a 225 m dock and an 11.8 m draft. It is exclusively dedicated to the exportation of phosphate.

While Togo has many rivers - the two largest being the Oti River (a tributary of Lake Volta) and the Mono River - activities on them are weak and there is river port.

Roads
Over the past eight (8) years, the government of Togo has invested a total of XOF680 billion in road infrastructures, in line with plans to asphalt 60% of the country’s roads by 2022. In this framework, the authorities intend to widen the national road N°1, at a cost of $620 million. The national road N°17, between Katchamba and Sadori, will also be asphalted with financing from the BOAD.

Togo’s road network spans 11,777km. Asphalted national roads and city roads cover respectively 2,101 km and 1,473 km of this distance. Meanwhile, the length of non-asphalted national and rural roads is estimated at 1,294 km and 6,802 km.

The country has three main road corridors:

The national road N°1, Togo’s main road axis spans 746 km and goes across the country from the south to the north. The second corridor connects Lomé to Hillacondji (at the border with Benin). It is about 53 km long and is part of the 1,022km-long Abidjan-Lagos corridor.

The third corridor is the CU19 WAEMU community road. It starts in Nyamassila and connects to the Benin border, by passing through Bagou, Goubi, Kambolé, and Balanka. It is 180 km-long.

Between 2012 and 2016, major works helped increase the percentage of roads in a good state from 18% to 29%, while reducing that of roads in poor state from 49% to 40% over the same period.

Established by the decree N°2012-013/PR of 26 March 2012, the Société Autonome de Financement de l’Entretien Routier (SAFER) is in charge of road maintenance in Togo. In 2012, it maintained 900 km of roads. This distance however increased to 1335 km in 2014, and 2,194 km in 2017.

Airports
AIGE or Gnassingbé Eyadema International Airport is the biggest airport in Togo. Built before the colonial period, it covers an area of 413 hectares.

Various works have been undertaken since its creation to modernize the infrastructure. For example, a new terminal meeting international standards was inaugurated in 2016.

Besides a growing modernization, airport traffic also rises. In 2012, the AIGE recorded a passenger traffic of 470,000. In 2019, the infrastructure recorded nearly 50% of this number (246,000 passengers) in the first five months of the year alone. Competent authorities seek to reach 2 million passengers by 2022.

Amongst airlines operating on the Gnassingbé Eyadema International Airport, there are some major players like Ethiopian Airlines, Asky (based in Lomé), Air France, Brussels Airlines...
Regarding Ethiopian airlines, it has started offering direct flights from Lomé to Houston, US, since mid-December 2019.

At the end of September 2019, AIGE generated a total of XOF3.54 billion in revenues allocated to the State budget.

Togo’s second airport is the Niamtougou International Airport, located 450 km from Lomé. And while it handles mainly private cargo flights at the moment, important works are undergoing to make this airport a reference in terms of airport logistics, especially for cargo traffic to hinterland countries.

Togo presently records an electrification rate of 45.7%, according to the World Bank. It is a great improvement from the 18% it recorded in 2005.

The country had an installed capacity of 229 MW for a local consumption of 1,213 GWh, in 2015. To plug its energy deficit, Togo imports 40% of the electricity it needs from neighboring Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

Since 2014, the government of Faure Gnassingbé eyes an electrification rate of 50%, which it wants to achieve this year, and 90% by 2030. This goal aligns with Togo’s ambition to become an emerging economy.

In the same framework, public policies are working to raise the electrification rate in rural areas to 40% by 2022, from 7% in 2017.

As part of the regional program to develop renewable energies and improve energy efficiency, Togo intends to build a wind farm, and provide electricity to 22 villages with PV solar systems. The program, which is carried out in partnership with India, will also help electrify 150 rural communities.

Another project sharing a similar goal is the CI-ZO. The latter aims at enabling two million people, in rural zones, to get electricity by supplying them with solar kits.

Agriculture contributes more than 40% of Togo’s GDP and employs nearly 65% of its active population. Also, arable lands expand over 3.6 million hectares, which is 60% of the Togolese territory. Out of this area, 1.4 million hectares or 41% of the total area are sown. Given its importance, the sector holds a significant position in the recently launched national development plan (under the second axis) which runs from 2018 to 2022.

Contrasting with the fact that agriculture is such an important driving force for the economy is the extremely low level of lending to this sector (2% of bank loans in 2019), and weak technical support (only 25% of farms receive technical support of monitoring structures), only 16% of the farms use fertilizers, and 89% of the cultivated areas have been using archaic equipment (hoe and cutlass).
Moreover, yields from one region to another are uneven, with the lowest production area being the Savanes region - a zone that is exposed to a reduction in forest areas and land pressure.

Regarding its soil, Togo has relatively rich soils (maize is grown on most of them). Lands in the Plateaux region are known for being fertile whereas, in Kara, lands are difficult to exploit due to the region’s rocky geomorphology.

Green revolution
Since 1975 when the country started its green revolution, it has made many efforts to remain self-sufficient in regards to the food it consumes (a feat it has successfully achieved in recent years). In this framework, Togo decreased the prevalence of undernourishment to 11.4% in 2014, from 16.5% in 2012. This was achieved through the national programme for agricultural investment and food security (PNIASA).

Today and tomorrow...
To date, many programmes have been launched to boost the country’s agricultural production. These are the Agricultural Development Support Programme (PADAT), the Agriculture Support Project (PASA which concerns husbandry and the vaccination of ruminants), the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP-Togo), the Hydro-agricultural development of the Mono River’s lower valley (PBVM), the Rice Production Development Project in Kara (PDPR-K). There is also the agropole project which is currently underway in the Kara region.

Besides improving agricultural output, the government has mustered efforts to modernize the sector by improving farmers’ access to financing for better production, introducing agroforestry practices, enhancing agricultural research, mechanization, use of fertilizers, developing agricultural value chains, and helping agripreneurs emerge.

An example of a key project recently launched in this regard is the Project Supporting Youth Employment and Insertion in Profitable Sectors (PAEIJ-SP), or the Agricultural Financing Incentive Mechanism, launched on June 25, 2018. The latter aims to ease access to bank loans for actors of the agricultural value chain. In 2019, this mechanism granted more than XOF 3.8 billion loans to these actors. Nevertheless, banks still dedicate only 0.3% of their loan portfolio to the sector, every year. The government for its part wants to increase this figure to 5% by 2027, and reduce interest rate on the loans from 15% to 7.5%, ideally, but this rate should stabilize at 10.5%.

Also, in order to back the most vulnerable farmers, public authorities have put in place an annual subsidy ranging between XOF1.5 billion to XOF2 billion for fertilizer acquisition. Two years ago, they also developed an e-wallet, called AgriPME, for farmers. The platform which has more than 270,000 users at present allows them to carry out various transactions.
Last but not the least is the government’s very ambitious national development plan (PND 2018-2022). Among others, it aims to significantly boost agricultural output and agroindustrial transformation in Togo.

A look at some agricultural products of Togo

Food crops
Food crops make up 70% of all of Togo’s agricultural output. They are primarily destined to local consumption rather than exported. Regardless, they generate substantial, and “safe,” revenues for farmers, given the permanent demand of the domestic market. They include mainly grains and tubers. The first, grains, represent 56% of the calorie supply of plant-based foods consumed in Togo. In 2014-2017 alone, corn represented 51% of grains, followed by rice (20%), sorghum (17%) and wheat (9%). For tubers, the most consumed is cassava (61.8% of all tubers) followed by yam (37.8%).

Corn
It is grown by 1.5 million Togolese farmers across four agro-ecological zones, over more than 700,000 hectares (40% of total lands dedicated to food crops). Corn farming has kept increasing since 1990, in the northern region especially. For the 2018-2019 agricultural campaign, maize output stood at 886,630 tons.

In addition to being used for household consumption (both in rural and urban areas), it is also considered as a cash crop. Corn generates an average net income of XOF223,000 per hectare (latest data), making it the main source of revenue of farms, right after popular cash crops.

 
Rice
Most of Togo’s rice is grown in the Savanes region. For farmers, it is relatively expensive to cultivate and they struggle against imports from Asia mainly. To reverse this trend, various projects were recently launched to boost rice production, in the Djagblé plain especially. In 2018, Togo produced 145,000 tons of rice.

Sorghum and millet
Second-most grown grain, in terms of yield, sorghum is quite present in the farms of the Kara and Savanes regions. It is used mostly to make “tchoukoutchou”, a local drink. It is often grown together with millet. In terms of annual output, millet is the least popular grain in Togo. The combined outputs of sorghum and millet was at 303,000 tons in 2018.

Tubers (Yam and cassava)
Yam is mostly cultivated in Kpalimé and Bassar. It is mainly used to make “fufu,” which is a meal consumed in many West African countries. From 78,100 tons in 2015, Togo’s yam output rose to 859,000 tons in 2018.

As for cassava, it is produced only in the south (Agoè, Tabligbo, Tsévié, Vogan, Aného). It can also be used to prepare fufu or be transformed into gari or tapioca. Over the past five years, the country’s cassava production was around a million tons.

Legumes
Concerning legumes, Togo produces voandzou, beans, and groundnuts. For the latter, while annual yields were usually around 40,000 tons, they have been decreasing recently due to the closure of some peanut oil factories. In 2018, the country produced 208,000 tons of beans and cowpeas.

Export crops
These are mainly cotton, coffee, cocoa, and palm oil. However, since the start of the green revolution, others like shea nuts, kola, and cashew have also joined this category.

Cotton
Grown essentially in the Plateaux and Savanes regions, this cash crop recorded a major boom in 2011 and increased slightly the following year. In 2018 however, cotton output stood at 127,500 tons according to the BCEAO (exports to Europe generated more than $11 million). This year (2019-2020 campaign), cotton exports are expected to exceed 150,000 tons.

Coffee and cocoa
Both crops were introduced to Togo by the Germans during the colonial period. Together, they contribute 1.2% of the GDP and are grown by around 32,000 farmers.
The first, coffee, is cultivated in the Plateaux region (Kpalimé, Atakpamé, and Badou). Since 1990, Togo’s coffee production has been rising slowly: 11,000 tons in 1998 to 17,000 tons in 2003. Coffee farms cover more than 40,000 hectares. In the first quarters of 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively, coffee outputs were 1,090 tons, 4,883 tons, and 3,465 tons (while exported volumes were 476 tons, 2,089 tons, and 2,379 tons in the same periods).

For its part, cocoa is almost solely cultivated in Kpalimé, Atakpamé, and Badou. They are known as the “triangle de café et de cacao” (the triangle of coffee and cocoa). At the beginning of the century, about 8,000 tons of the beans were produced, over more than 30,000 ha. In the first quarters of 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively, cocoa yields stood at 1,326 tons‬, 1,660 tons, and 2,258 tons (while exports stood at 1,058 tons, 1,278 tons and 4,743 tons).‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

 
Organic farming
In the ECOWAS, Togo is the largest exporter of organic products to the European Union (EU). However, only 1% of the country’s arable lands are dedicated to organic farming. Also, this sector employs only about 40,000 people. It is driven by a strong external demand, especially for soybeans.

Soybeans
In the past three years, the production of this crop soared from 24,000 tons to 35,000 tons. The sector employs nearly 300,000 people and soybeans is grown over around 67,000 hectares, which is 38% of the total area on which legumes are grown across the territory.

Togo has one of the best yields in West Africa (3t/ha), with a turnover of XOF6.8 billion. Leveraging a strong global demand for organic products, it is produced mainly for export. This year, the country launched the very first regulated campaign and it expects to sell 78,000 tons of soybeans.

A few other cash crops
Besides these cash crops, there is also palm oil (which is grown over around 7,000 ha, for an output of 61,800 tons in 2017), and pineapple (3,300 tons produced in 2018, generating XOF1.5 billion in exports the same year).

Selon l’Indice Ibrahim de la Gouvernance en Afrique (IIAG), le Togo est le deuxième pays le plus réformateur sur les cinq (2012-2016) et les dix (2007-2016) dernières années, derrière la Côte d’Ivoire. Un classement que le pays doit aux nombreuses réformes entreprises depuis l’arrivée au pouvoir du président Faure Gnassingbé en 2005. Lutter contre la corruption fait partie du cahier des charges du gouvernement qui s’est doté de la Haute Autorité de prévention et de lutte contre la corruption et les infractions assimilées.

Depuis 2008, l’environnement des affaires a connu des améliorations selon le Doing Business (DB). Le pays passe de la 162e place au classement mondial en 2011 au 156e rang en 2017.

Selon l’Indice Ibrahim de la Gouvernance en Afrique, le Togo est le deuxième pays le plus réformateur sur les cinq (2012-2016) et les dix (2007-2016) dernières années, derrière la Côte d’Ivoire.

A cet effet, l’amélioration du climat des affaires demeure une priorité absolue pour le gouvernement togolais, comme en témoigne la mise en place d’une cellule Climat des affaires, chargée de conseiller le gouvernement dans ce cadre et la mise en œuvre d’initiatives ayant des impacts tangibles telles que le guichet unique pour le commerce extérieur ainsi que le guichet unique pour la création d’entreprises.

En vue de soutenir l’économie, l’exécutif togolais s’est engagé dans une série de réformes visant à  faciliter la création d’entreprises. Le capital minimum requis pour les SARL a été libéralisé. Les droits d’enregistrement à la création et l’obligation de détenir une carte d’opérateur économique ont été supprimés. D’autres mesures incitatives ont également été mises en place pour donner priorité à l’initiative privée. Le gouvernement s’est aussi engagé sur le chemin de réformes structurelles profondes, notamment l’adoption du nouveau code des investissements, et la mise en place d’un tribunal de commerce. Pays disposant d’énormes atouts miniers, le Togo fait partie de l’Initiative de transparence des industries extractives (ITIE).

Le Togo a fait des progrès en matière de privatisation de certaines activités budgétivores de l’État, notamment dans le domaine de l’assurance, dans le secteur bancaire, de l’hôtellerie, de la distribution d’électricité, des télécommunications et des activités de manutention de conteneurs.

Enfin, l’indice de développement humain est passé de 0,44 en 2006 à 0,49 en 2015. 

Principaux indicateurs de gouvernance

(Source Banque mondiale, govindicators.org)

Une position centrale en Afrique de l’Ouest

Situé sur la route côtière Abidjan-Lagos, au cœur de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, le Togo est le carrefour de l’Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine et du marché commun qui s’y développe. Le pays offre de nombreuses opportunités d’investissements, notamment dans les secteurs des infrastructures, de l’Énergie, de l’Agriculture, de l’Exploitation minière, des télécommunications et du Tourisme.

Le gouvernement togolais tente depuis 2007 de redynamiser l’économie et de jeter les bases d’une croissance plus inclusives. Ces efforts ont contribué à repositionner le Togo comme un acteur important dans la sous-région. Le pays affichant l’un des taux de croissance les plus importants de la sous-région sur les cinq dernières années.

L’institution de Bretton Woods table sur une croissance de 5,4 % en 2020, tandis que la Bad s’attend à une progression de 5,3 % de l’économie.

Cette dynamique devrait se poursuivre à l’horizon 2020, selon la Banque africaine de développement (Bad) et la Banque mondiale. L’institution de Bretton Woods table sur une croissance de  5,4 % en 2020, tandis que la Bad s’attend à une progression de 5,3 % de l’économie. Ces perspectives favorables confortent la confiance des investisseurs internationaux, tels que Bolloré, MSC, Asky, Ecobank, Etisalat, Contour Global et d’autres.

Déjà, Lomé abrite le siège de la compagnie aérienne régionale Asky, la banque panafricaine Ecobank et le port autonome de Lomé, le seul port de la côte ouest-africaine à partir duquel il est possible de rejoindre plusieurs capitales en une journée. Le gouvernement multiplie ses actions en vue de renforcer la capacité de la plateforme portuaire. A cet effet, deux investissements majeurs dans le port ainsi que la construction du nouveau terminal aéroportuaire ont été réalisés simultanément en moins de deux ans. Ce qui reflète la volonté de l’exécutif de faire de Lomé, un pôle d’attractivité dans la sous-région.

According to the Ibrahim Index of Governance in Africa (IIAG), after Côte d’Ivoire, Togo is the country that has implemented the most reforms on the continent, over the past five (2012-2016) to ten (2007-2016) years. This ranking is attributed to the many reforms undertaken by President Faure Gnassingbé since he came into power in 2005. As fighting corruption is one of the government’s key objective, it has put in place the High Authority for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption and Related Offenses.

Also, according to Doing Business (DB), the country’s business climate has recorded some improvements since 2008. Indeed, in this index, Togo moved from the 162nd position, in 2011, to the 156th position in 2017.

According to the Ibrahim Index of Governance in Africa, after Côte d’Ivoire, Togo is the country that has implemented the most reforms on the continent, over the past five (2012-2016) to ten (2007-2016) years.

Attesting of the government’s will to maintain this trend is the Business Climate Cell which was put in place to advise the administration in this regard and implement measures with a significant impact, such as the single desk for external trade and the single desk for companies creation.

To support the economy, Togolese government has initiated a battery of reforms aiming to ease business creation. Among others, minimum capital required for LLC creation was erased; same for registration fees and the compulsory economic operator card. The government has also initiated deep structural reforms, such as adopting a new investment code and setting a tribunal of commerce. Having many mining assets, Togo is part of the Initiative for Transparency in Extractive Industries (ITEI).

Moreover, the country has achieved some progress in regards to the privatization of some activities that were weighing on State budget. These include sectors like insurance, banking, hospitality, power supply, telecommunications and container handling.

Finally, the nation’s human development index grew from 0.44 in 2006 to 0.49 in 2015.

Main governance indicators

 (Source World Bank, govindicators.org)

A key positon in West Africa

Located on the Abidjan-Lagos coastal axis, at the heart of West Africa, Togo is the crossroad of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the common market growing within. The country offers many investment opportunities, namely in sectors such as infrastructures, energy, agriculture, mining, telecommunications and tourism.

Since 2007, Togo’s government is trying to restart the economy and lay foundations for a more inclusive growth. These efforts made the country one of the most important actors in the region, with one of the highest growth rates across over the past five years.

The Bretton Woods institution forecast a 5.4% growth in 2020, while AfDB expects the figure to stand at 5.3%.

The trend should continue by 2020, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank. The Bretton Woods institution forecast a 5.4% growth in 2020, while AfDB expects the figure to stand at 5.3%. These positive projections reassure international investors like Bolloré, MSC, Asky, Ecobank, Etisalat, Contour Global, among others.

So far, Lomé is home to the headquarters of regional airlines Asky, pan-African bank Ecobank and to the autonomous port of Lomé, which is the only port along the West African coast where it is possible to travel to many capitals in a day. In regard to the latter, government is working to augment its capacity. Actually, two major investments were made in the port, and a new airport terminal was built, in less than two years, thus reflecting the government’s will to make Lomé an attractive hub in the region. 

On February 27-28, 2018, Togo will host its first blockchain technology and cryptocurrency focused conference. The initiative comes from Technologies Réseaux et Solutions (TRS) and Ghana Dot Com (GDC).
While blockchain and cryptocurrency’s emergence is revolutionizing commercial transactions all around the world, Togo still records a very low penetration rate for cryptocurrencies.
The event, according to its promoters, will be an occasion to learn more about bitcoin transactions, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technologies globally.
Long-term goal is to promote the use of e-currencies and enable a maximum number of people to benefit optimally from the economy resulting from this revolution.
The conference targets tech professionals operating in the finance sector, health professionals, people handling tech policies, public and private registries managers, solution providers, programmers, etc.