In Togo, the Groupe de réflexion et d'action Femme, Démocratie et Développement (GF2D), has just obtained a grant of more than 150 million CFA ($250,000) for various awareness-raising activities targeting certain vulnerable social groups. This facility was recently symbolically received in Lomé by Michelle Aguey, its Secretary General, from the First Counselor at the American Embassy, Ronald Hawkins, in the form of a check.

This financing falls under the Africa Regional Democracy Fund program, a funding mechanism released by the U.S. Department of State for the benefit of several African countries. 

According to the U.S. Embassy, the grant will mainly be devoted to a program that will foster women and girls’ democratic and political engagement, "for a more stable, inclusive and prosperous Togo by strengthening their ability to exercise their rights." 

The funds are to be used to implement a one-year program, and the goals of the U.S. representation include increasing women's understanding of their rights, improving their access to state and private identification systems (to facilitate access to employment opportunities, bank accounts, travel, voting, and health and social care), and combating harassment and violence against women.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

All measures taken by the Togolese government to tackle the rising cost of living and security issues faced by Togo in 2022 cost about CFA120 billion or nearly 3% of the country’s GDP in 2021. 

The Ministry of Economy and Finance disclosed the figure in a statement on December 6, 2022, during the presentation of the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, October 2022 edition.

Last September, Togo First estimated at around CFA90 billion the cost of 10 of the “new measures" enacted by Faure Gnassingbé and his government to deal with the high cost of living.

Though they were taken to ease socioeconomic tensions spurred by rising inflation, especially higher prices of oil and imported products, the measures caused Togo’s budget deficit to widen, from 5% to 8% of GDP. Next year, however, this indicator is expected to fall back to 6.5% of GDP.

According to the ministry of finance, most of the measures are included in the 2023 Finance Bill, which is at the parliament’s level.

"The government remains committed to pursuing fiscal reforms aimed at consolidating public finances and controlling the country's debt level in the medium term," said Agbenoxevi Paniah, Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

As a reminder, the measures taken include a 10% increase in the index value of salaries and retirement pensions for civil and military civil servants and public sector retirees; an additional 5% increase in retirement pensions for all civil and military retirees in the public and private sectors; a special grant of CFA3 billion by direct monetary transfer to parents of students for the purchase of school supplies. Also, a subsidy of CFA2.5 billion for the purchase of writing and reading books for primary school students; an increase in the fertilizer subsidy from CFA6 billion to CFA7.5 billion in order to stabilize prices throughout the 2021/2022 season.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Thanks to the PROCAT, Togo’s pineapple sector recorded major improvements in the last four years. 

Indeed, according to the national team coordinating the sector, due to the project which aimed to make the pineapple industry more competitive, output, processed volumes, jobs, and exports (of dry, fresh, and processed pineapples) grew significantly over the period.

In detail, the output soared from 27,133 t in 2017 to 44,391 t in 2022, up 76%. Meanwhile, the volume processed by certified plants increased from 2,133 t in 2018 to 4,279 t in 2022. The country exported 6,460 t of fresh, dry, and pineapple juice in 2022, against 3,386 t in 2018.

Regarding jobs created in the sector, “We moved from about 900 jobs when the project (ed. note: PROCAT) began in 2018 and now that the project ends, four years later, we have exceeded 5,000 jobs, with precisely 1,502 jobs created for women in Togo’s whole pineapple chain,” said Kossi Apedo, Coordinator of the PROCAT.

Though the PROCAT came to an end, measures have been taken to ensure "sufficient availability of pineapple rejects so that growers who want to increase their production area can do so," the coordinator said.

The PROCAT was financed by the European Union (EU) and the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to the tune of €5.95 million. Its main goal was to make the local private sector more competitive and help create decent jobs in the pineapple sector while improving the living conditions of beneficiaries.

Esaïe Edoh 

From January to September 2022, the Tax Office (CI) and the Customs and Indirect Taxation Office (CDDI) of the OTR – Togo’s higher tax authority – collected CFA646 billion in taxes. This amount represents 79% of the OTR’s target for the year, which is CFA814 billion. 

This was disclosed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in a recently published report covering the execution of the State budget up till the end of September 2022.

In the first semester, the OTR collected CFA409.41 billion. Between July and September, it collected CFA237.34 billion. 

The amount mobilized in the first nine months exceeded that obtained over the same period in 2021: CFA 563 billion.

These tax revenues consist mainly of taxes on income, profits, and capital gains (CFA148 billion), goods and services (CFA326 billion), and assets (CFA1.6 billion).

There are also revenues from duties and taxes on foreign trade and international transactions, which stood at CFA151 billion between January and September this year.

Esaïe Edoh

Bboxx-EDF will get CFA7.2 billion (€11 million) from the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF) to speed up the supply of electricity to 1.5 million more people in Togo. The signing of the related agreement was announced on  November 30, 2022. 

In line with the country’s electrification targets for 2030, the credit will help small farmers access solar irrigation. 

"This financing facility will help us significantly expand our product offering with EDF, expanding our distribution network in the country and putting us on track to provide clean energy to 1.5 million Togolese by 2030," said Mansoor Hamayun, CEO and co-founder of Bboxx. "It is encouraging that the private sector is starting to invest more in green initiatives, and we are grateful to OGEF for recognizing the critical services and solutions we provide," the Pakistani-born entrepreneur added.

In Togo, Bboxx has been active since 2018, under a Joint Venture with EDF. Since then, the two partners were able to impact more than 300,000 people across the country.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togolese deputies recently greenlit a law that benefits investors and businesses active in the textile industry. The parliamentarians voted on the bill, which covers the free industrial zone, on November 30, during the sixth plenary session of the second ordinary session of the year 2022.

On the tax front, the law sets the dividend and patent tax on companies at 10%, starting from the 9th year of activity and forward. 

Moreover, investors and businesses operating in the free industrial zone will be exempt from paying some taxes such as the land tax, the income tax due to foreign technical assistance services, and duties and taxes that are not specifically mentioned. There is also a 50% cut on customs duties and taxes and the VAT on commercial vehicles.

The passing of the law by the deputies will, according to the minister for investment promotion, Kayi Mivedor, guarantee the “development of a fully integrated value chain from the production of cotton, the basic raw material, to the manufacture of clothing.”

For the government, the goal, with the new law, is to use the textile industry to create more jobs in Togo, in line with “the vision developed by the government roadmap to strengthen the attractiveness of the country to investors itolocally process cotton produced in Togo,” via the Industrial Platform of Adétikopé (PIA). 

 Esaïe Edoh

Togolese deputies began on Thursday, December 1, 2022, the examination of the 2023 draft finance law, which the government adopted a few weeks ago.

In detail, the people’s representatives will scrutinize the economic and financial prospects that Lomé expects in the coming year. Mainly, the parliament will focus on major sectors of activity, fiscal measures affecting the social environment, and the emergency program in the Savanes region.

The project for next year, let’s recall, has been set at CFA1,957.9 billion, up 4.4% from CFA1,887 billion in the 2022 rectifying law.  

Almost half of the forecast budget is devoted to social welfare – just like this year and the previous one.

Esaïe Edoh

Lomé is hosting the 38th Annual Meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network in the Sahel and West Africa. The meeting started on December 6 and ends on the 9th. 

Organized by the Sahel and West Africa Club and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it will allow participants to assess the provisional results of the 2022-2023 agropastoral campaign and the food and nutrition situation in the Sahel and West Africa.

Participants will also discuss pastoral and security crises, food and nutrition resilience, and investments to make food systems more resilient. The management of food and nutrition security will be also among the topics covered.

On the last day of the meeting, Togo will share its experience regarding investment in food and nutrition security, and resilience as well.

 Esaïe Edoh