Togo seeks CFA6 billion to better tackle climate change. Foli-Bazi Katari, the country’s Minister of Environment, unveiled the financial needs a week ago in Dubaï. This was during the meeting for the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of African countries, held on the sidelines of the COP28.

According to the Ministry of Environment, Togo will use the funds to mitigate climate change’s devastating effects and help vulnerable communities become more resilient to the phenomenon. 

"We only need $6 billion, and we already have what we call conditional and unconditional commitments," Katari declared.

In Togo, the NDCs will finance data update that will integrate new policies, programs, and the infrastructure sector. Also, the updated data will better integrate water resources, the inclusion of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and short-lived atmospheric and climatic pollutants in the gas emissions.

Esaïe Edoh 

The World Bank holds today, December 12, a dialogue on investing in digitalization in Africa. Hosted at the 2 Février Hotel in Lomé, the event is themed "Investing in productive, inclusive and secure digitalization". It is moderated by Cina Lawson, Togo's Minister of the Digital Economy and Digital Transformation, among others.

Other moderators include Fily Sissoko, Resident Representative in Togo, Andrew Dabalen, Chief Economist for the Africa Region at the World Bank, and Moussa Blimpo, Professor and Researcher at the University of Toronto.

For Cina Lawson, the event is an opportunity to review Togo's progress in the digital sector, and actions underway. Some of the initiatives include the Novissi cash transfer scheme and digitization projects. The latter, for example, facilitated the obtention of criminal records and the declaration of cybersecurity services. 

Togo holds today a workshop to validate the draft bill on the urban planning and construction code. The workshop is held in Kara, northern Togo. 

The bill is being examined by local urban development stakeholders, from the public, private, and civil sectors. If necessary, the workshop’s participants will recommend modifications to improve the bill. 

Started two years ago, the bill’s drafting, and its validation, fall under the second component of the Urban Development Investment Program (PIDU).  Launched in 2018, the program is co-financed by the World Bank and the Togolese State, and implemented by the Ministry of Urban Planning and Housing.

The Coordination Togolaise des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs Agricoles (CTOP) and the Union Tunisienne de l'Agriculture et de la Pêche (UTAP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on December 8, 2023. The MoU aims to boost family farming and promote sustainable development in Togo. It will run until 2028.

The deal results from several meetings supported by GIZ as part of the ProComp, a program to make Togo’s private sector more competitive. The signing coincides with the conclusion of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDAF), a program aimed at supporting small-scale farmers worldwide.

According to the CTOP’s chairperson Ayéfoumi Olou Adara, the new agreement will help Togolese farmers be more competitive in the international market, by providing them with adequate training and financial resources. CTOP has 550,000 members,  including farmers, breeders, fishermen, and processors. Women constitute about 30% of the organization’s membership.

Commenting on the partnership with the Togolese Association, UTAP’s President, Noureddine Ben Ayed, said it is a significant milestone towards the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), especially in the agricultural sector.

The MoU covers various areas, including technical cooperation, capacity building, information exchange, and joint event organization.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) picked President Faure Gnassingbé to mediate talks with the new government in Niger. Gnassingbé was appointed at the 64th ordinary session of the ECOWAS.

As a mediator, the Togolese leader will help resolve the various issues that arose following the Coup that happened in Niger on July 26, 2023. The presidents of Benin and Sierra Leone will help him in his task. 

“The Authority decided to set up a Committee of Heads of State including H.E. Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Togolese Republic, H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, and Representatives of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the President of the Republic of Benin to engage with the CNSP and other stakeholders,” reads the final communiqué of the ordinary session.

The talks steered by the three appointed leaders will focus on “agreeing on a short transition roadmap, establishing transition organs, as well as facilitating the setting up of a transition monitoring and evaluation mechanism towards the speedy restoration of constitutional order.”

The talks should yield a strategy for ending the crisis. After the talks, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey and the UN Special Representative for West Africa should visit Niger.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide Togo with a 42-month financing of $390 million under a new extended credit facility program (ECF).

According to the IMF, the deal, recently signed by the two parties,  aims to help Togo meet its urgent spending needs while fostering economic stability and social inclusion. 

The agreement was signed after an IMF team visited Lomé, from November 29 to December 8. The delegation met with the Togolese Minister of Economy and Finance, Sani Yaya.

”The IMF team is pleased to announce that we reached a staff-level agreement with the Togolese authorities on a 42-month program supported by an arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) in the amount of SDR 293.60 million, or about US$390 million. The authorities’ economic program aims to preserve economic stability and strengthen debt sustainability while laying the foundations for stronger and more inclusive growth. The staff-level agreement is subject to IMF Management and Executive Board approval,” said the team leader, Hans Weisfeld. 

On Togo's part, this new support plan involves reforms aimed at increasing tax revenues by 0.5% of GDP per year, broadening the tax base, and reducing the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2025. It will also involve rationalizing public spending while aligning with ambitions to strengthen social protection (notably by extending cash transfers, based on the creation of a single social register and a biometric identification platform).

This new FEC agreement concludes months of talks between Togo and the IMF that started in 2020. Togo expected to close the deal in Q1 2023, but it took a few months more. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

In Togo, the government recently provided rural women with CFA100 million of farming equipment. The first donation took place last Thursday, Dec. 7, in Lomé. The Minister of Social Action carried out the symbolic handover. 

In detail, the equipment includes tricycles, egg incubators, motorized condiment mills, palm kernel crushers, and soybean threshers. Overall, 78 cooperatives and associations of rural women will receive the tools. 

The project is part of the Projet d'Autonomisation des Femmes Rurales au Togo (PAFeRT) (Rural Women Empowerment Project in Togo). It is backed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), whose Resident Representative attended the symbolic handover.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo added Mali to its list of free-roaming partners last week. The deal was signed on December 9 by the two countries’ telecom regulators. 

Under the free-roaming agreement,  cell phone users traveling in both countries can receive no-cost calls in the first 30 days of their stay. Furthermore, the per-minute cost of local calls and call back to home stand at CFA79 and CFA150, respectively. As for the internet, it will cost no more than CFA2.2 per Mb. 

In parallel to Togo, Mali sealed the same deal with Benin in Lomé. According to the regulators of the three countries, the agreements will come into effect by February 29, next year. 

Mali is the fourth country to enter a free-roaming partnership with Togo. The other three are Benin, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire. Burkina Faso could come next.

Esaïe Edoh

Ecobank is, again, the Bank of the Year in Togo. The lender won the title for the fourth consecutive year, at the Banker Magazine’s Bank of the Year Awards for 2023 which was hosted in London, UK, on November 30.

The lender welcomed the title as proof of its commitment to excellence, reflected through its ability to generate returns, gain strategic advantage, and serve the Togolese market.

"This award is an official recognition of the quality of our comprehensive range of products, services, and solutions. It testifies to our ability to meet the evolving needs and expectations of our customers in the Personal Banking, Commercial Banking, and Corporate and Investment Banking sectors in Togo," said Souleymane Touré, MD of Ecobank Togo.

Touré further noted that Ecobank Togo would "keep leveraging to offer its customers practical, affordable, and innovative solutions."

Besides Togo, Ecobank also won the title of Bank of the Year 2023 in Guinea, Benin, Liberia, and Mali. Meanwhile, Ecobank Zimbabwe won the Global Financial Inclusion Award for 2023.

Esaïe Edoh