India was Togo’s biggest buyer in Q3 2022. The Asian giant absorbed nearly a fifth (19.4%) of the West African country’s exports over that quarter, according to data from the Togolese Institute of Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED).

Togo exported 161,050 tons of goods to India in the third quarter of 2022, with an estimated value of CFA27.38 billion. 

Behind India came Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, respectively Togo’s second and third most important export destinations. The former captured 12.9% of the country’s exports, according to the INSEED. The latter captured 11.5% or around 15,300 t (valued at CFA16.5 billion).

With 165,000 t of goods imported from its neighbor, Benin was fourth in the ranking. The volume corresponds to 9.6% of Togo’s total exports in Q3 2022 and is valued at CFA18.3 billion. A little behind came France (7.7%), Mali (6.5%), Ghana (5.1%), and Senegal (4.6%).

The world’s biggest importer, China, was absent from the ranking–A situation attributable to its “Zero Covid Policy” in line with which the economic powerhouse has been limiting its port activities and international trade.

It should be emphasized that Togo’s top 10 buyers purchased 80.8% of its exports, in terms of value, during the quarter concerned. Overall, these exports were valued at CFA140.8 billion over the period; that is 4.3% down year-on-year.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo, Chad, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will receive $311 million from the World Bank as part of the Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention Project (RESPITE). The latter was approved on December 20, 2022, by the Bank’s fund for the poorest, the International Development Association (IDA).

The RESPITE aims mainly to “rapidly increase grid-connected renewable energy capacity and strengthen regional integration in the participating countries,” according to the World Bank. Also, part of the financing, a $20 million grant, will “help facilitate future regional power trade and strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP).” The latter is a network that regroups 14 of the 15 Ecowas countries and whose construction should be completed this year. 

Moreover, the project “will finance the installation and operation of approximately 106 megawatts of solar photovoltaic with battery energy”, and expand by 41 megawatts the hydroelectric capacity of the four recipient countries.

“Solutions supported by the new project are manyfold and have substantial benefits for the countries and the region. Among others, it will provide fiscal space for countries to address food crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, initiate development of competitively tendered grid-connected clean energy to alleviate current power supply crisis, positively address climate change by helping countries to move away from expensive and polluting fuels, and help synchronize the WAPP network to enhance regional integration in the energy sector,” said Rhonda Jordan-Antoine, World Bank Task Team Leader of the project.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Togolese government and its social partners (central trade unions and professional employers' organizations) recently agreed to raise the country’s minimum wage to CFA52,500 from CFA35,000 (since 2012). 

Announced last Friday, the change came into effect on January 1, 2023.

In his end-of-year address to the Nation, President Faure Gnassingbé welcomed the change saying: "I would like to congratulate the social partners who were able to reach an agreement to raise the guaranteed minimum wage."

Besides raising the minimum wage, the social actors committed to keeping working "together for the continuous improvement of the overall working conditions of employees, and particularly the purchasing power of workers and households.”

The increase is the latest of a battery of social measures that the government has undertaken in recent months, to mitigate the impact of high living costs and rising inflation on the Togolese economy. 

While the decision to raise the minimum standard is a major improvement, implementing it, in all socio-professional strata, the informal sector especially, is another issue.

Togo received last Monday, another white rice shipment from Japan, the third this year, as part of the 2021 Kennedy Round (KR). This shipment (2,748 tons) is worth about CFA1.7 billion (350 million yen).

A delegation from the Togolese ministry of agriculture, led by Konlani Dindiogue, head of the ministry’s cabinet, received the shipment at the Autonomous Port of Lomé (PAL).

Under the terms of the KR project, the rice will be sold and subsequent earnings will be used to set up a fund for financing socio-economic projects across the country.

The Kennedy Round is a non-reimbursable financial cooperation assistance that allows developing countries facing food difficulties to receive cereals such as rice and wheat for the benefit of their populations, especially the most vulnerable.

Mainly, it supports the efforts of these governments to cut the rice deficit, boost food security, and improve nutritional balance, and the living standards of the poorest.

According to the Togolese ministry of agriculture, since 2008, Japan’s support for Togo, as part of the KR project reached 4.6 billion yen (a little more than CFA23 billion). The West African country has received from the Asian country 849 tons of wheat and 29,205 tons of white rice.

Esaïe Edoh 

On the night of Dec 22-23, the Togolese Parliament adopted the budget for 2023. The bill, which was approved unanimously, totals CFA1,957.9 billion in revenue and expenditure. This is 4.4% more than 2022’s rectifying budget.

Defending the bill during its adoption, Sani Yaya, the minister of finance, talked about the current international context, which is “marked by the persistent effects of the health crisis and the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict”. “These crises”, the official continued, “have spurred strong inflationary pressures and tighter monetary policies, which in turn induced a slowdown of economic activities.”

Yaya was representing the government at the assembly, with Christian Trimua, the minister of human rights and spokesperson of the government

Social and development-oriented projects 

The 2023 budget focuses on social and development-oriented projects. Indeed, 48% of projected spending under the bill will be dedicated to the first axis of the government’s roadmap (Togo 2025). This axis covers inclusion and human capital development ; 35% of projected spending will be dedicated to the roadmap’s second axis which focuses on supporting productive sectors, while the remaining 17% will, according to minister Yaya, help boost the State’s capacities.

Next year, CFA623.4 billion should be allocated to social sectors–thus nearly 49% of the whole budget which is close to CFA2,000 billion. In the 2022 budget, the amount dedicated to these sectors was lower: CFA522.2 billion.

Private sector gets new support

Besides the social sectors, the government announced several incentives for the private sector. They include the suspension of installment payments if turnover falls sharply or the business shuts down, the exemption of the payment of custom duties and taxes on construction equipment and machinery, the renewal of customs duties and VAT exemption for new electric and hybrid vehicles, and tax abatements for vehicles that are less than five (5) years old.

The measures “reflect the government’s firm commitment to mitigating inflation’s impact on the purchasing power of both public and private sector employees and households and on businesses’ capacity to create wealth and support (Ed.note: economic) growth,” Sani Yaya added. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi