Togo First
Insurance products remain a luxury in Africa (Sani Yaya)
In Africa, the penetration rate of insurance products is low, according to Togo’s finance minister, Sani Yaya. The official made the statement last Monday, at the launch of the 26th African Reinsurance Forum in Lomé.
“The challenge is to bring even more inclusion to the insurance industry. Insurance should no longer be a luxury or for people who belong to a certain social class,” Yaya said.
The minister emphasized that insurance should not only be limited to big capitals.
“It must extend to the most remote hamlets, offering solutions, as long as there is an economic activity since our countries are essentially home to small, medium, and very small businesses,” he said
To achieve this, Sani Yaya encouraged insurers and reinsurers to try and cover all socio-economic strata and to conduct in-depth reflections to find innovative solutions to propose to African economies.
Esaïe Edoh
26th African Reinsurance Forum: Sani Yaya urges reinsurers to support the development of African countries
The 26th African Reinsurance Forum began in Lomé last Monday, October 3. Organized by the African Insurance Organization (AIO), the event is themed: “Sustainable growth: the role of African reinsurers in economic growth and development.”
Held at the 2 Février hotel, the forum gathered reinsurers from companies like CICA RE, Africa Re Group, and Société Sénégalaise de Réassurance (SENRE).
During the meeting, Togo’s minister of finance, Sani Yaya, who launched it, urged African reinsurance actors to support the development strategies of African countries, including Togo, as these economies struggle due to current global conditions.
"I would like to call your attention to align yourselves, and we know that you are already doing so, but align yourselves even more and commit yourselves to the different national development plans of our different countries and the agendas of our different regions, our different sub-regions in terms of development," Yaya told the audience on Monday. "This is how you will better help our different economies, through your support, the insurance you provide, the coverage of multiple risks."
It should be noted that Lomé hosted the very first edition of the Africa Reinsurance Forum, in 1995.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: Government to build a new town in the Grand Lomé area
Togolese authorities plan to create a new town to relieve congestion in the Grand Lomé area. The project was announced by the minister of urbanism, Koffi Tsolenyanu, on World Habitat Day (October 3).
According to the official, the project will be developed in Kpomé, in the Zio 1 municipality, over 1,177 ha. The minister said the city will help “increase Togo’s housing stock, thus preventing house scarcity and perverse consequences of speculation which could, in the long run, hurt more the most vulnerable groups, concerning access to housing and a healthy habitat.”
To facilitate the project’s concretization, the government is ready to provide secure land to real estate developers who are looking to invest in affordable housing. According to the minister of urban planning, the authorities also intend to build several roads leading to the site.
Other steps taken to improve housing in Togo include the construction of 20,000 social housing units and the capping of the deposit and rent guarantee at three months.
According to the ministry of urban development, more cities will be built in the rest of the country.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo: Anti-corruption regulator and BOAD ink key agreement
The Togolese anti-corruption regulator (HAPLUCIA) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD) inked last Friday a five-year cooperation agreement to fight corruption and related offenses, in Togo.
Through the agreement, the two entities aim to set up the proper framework to prevent, detect, investigate, and fight corruption and related offenses in cross-border transactions.
In detail, the BOAD will allow its general audit department to share information with the HAPLUCIA.
According to HAPLUCIA’s boss, Essohana Wiyao, the deal will reinforce the regulator. "Through this agreement, we formalize our cooperation to be stronger. Together, we will strengthen our capacity to act effectively," he said just after the agreement was signed.
The BOAD’s support aligns with its “policy to prevent and fight corruption and fraud in its operations, and its whistleblower protection policy.”
Esaïe Edoh
WAEMU economies expected to grow at 5.6% in Q4 2022
The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) could record an economic growth rate of 5.6% this quarter. This is slightly above the rate forecast for Q3, according to Togo’s minister of finance, Sani Yaya, who disclosed the figure last Friday in Dakar, during the latest council of the WAEMU.
The improvement, the official noted, is attributable to the resilience of WAEMU States against global inflation and the Ukraine crisis, which make it difficult for the Union’s eight members to get needed supplies – food and agricultural input especially.
"The context of international tension induces strong inflationary trends with a year-on-year inflation rate of 5.9% in July 2022," said Sani Yaya.
The Togolese minister lauded "the significant efforts made by the Member States to alleviate the suffering of the population in the face of soaring prices."
Besides economic struggles, the council gathered in the Senegalese capital discussed the security threat facing the region.
Esaïe Edoh
Gilbert Houngbo officially takes over ILO’s helm
Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo is officially the new head of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The handover ceremony was held on September 30, 2022, and the Togolese official was trusted with the keys to the UN organization by his predecessor, Guy Ryder, a British.
"I salute your uncompromising commitment to the founding values of the ILO, your steadfast pursuit of technical excellence within the mandate of the organization, and your continued respect for our tripartite constituents as a unique source of inspiration for the ILO. These are qualities I aspire to emulate as I embark on the mission entrusted to me," Houngbo told Ryder at the ceremony, the ILO reported.
Some of the priorities ILO’s new boss will tackle include "the international response to the issues of the market basket, high living costs, and inflation.” He will also work on expanding social protection, in the informal sector especially, fighting child labor and modern slavery.
Though he just takes over ILO’s helm, Gilbert F. Houngbo was elected as the organization’s 11th Director General last March. He was appointed for a five-year term, renewable once.
Houngbo was Togo’s Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012 and was recently Chief of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: Cash transfers to vulnerable households resume after nine months
From now to June next year, 125,000 Togolese households should get nearly CFA19 billion in cash transfers from the government. This is part of a cash transfer scheme started in Dankpen, Kara, on September 3, and officially launched on September 27. The official launch was chaired by Victoire Tomegah-Dogbe, Togo’s Prime Minister.
The launch, placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Grassroots Development, was marked by two symbolic payments, made via T-Money (Togocom) and Flooz (Moov Africa Togo), respectively.
The beneficiaries of the initiative are spread across 900 villages. Each household will get CFA90,000 - in six installments of CFA15,000. An additional CFA100,000 will be sent to 15,000 households to improve their economic inclusion.
Myriam Dossou d’Almeida, minister of grassroots development, said the cash transfers are "a circumstantial support to help beneficiaries to raise and regain control of their lives.”
The new financing for the Social Safety Nets and Basis Services Project (FA-FSB) comes from the World Bank, the French Development Agency (AFD), and the Togolese government. It will help improve beneficiaries’ income and consumption and allow them to recover from the Covid crisis.
It should be noted that the initial phase of the project came to its end last December. In that phase, 61,317 vulnerable households received cash transfers from the ministry of grassroots development.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo-Japan: President Gnassingbé and PM Kishida talk bilateral cooperation
The Togolese Head of State, Faure Gnassingbé, met on Wednesday with Japanese PM Fumio Kishida. This is part of an official visit to Japan, said the Togolese Presidency.
During the meeting, delegations from the two nations addressed their bilateral partnership, and the many diplomatic, strategic, and economic agreements and conventions that bind them.
In Togo, Japan has, among several initiatives, financed the establishment of the fishing port of Gbétsogbé, helped boost food reserves through the Kennedy Round, and contributed to the fight against Covid-19.
"The ongoing projects focus on infrastructure, food security, and the realization of digital mapping through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and as part of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD)," said the Togolese Presidency on September 29, 2022, as part of this meeting. It added that "Japan is a strategic partner of Togo in the implementation of priority directions of the development policy.”
The meeting, let’s emphasize, comes a few weeks after TICAD 8, which was held in Tunis. A summit during which Tokyo announced $30 billion in development aid for Africa. Resources Togo intends to take advantage of.
Kara Agropolis: APRODAT seeks new standards for food and agricultural products
Through its agency for the promotion and development of agropoles (Aprodat), Togo seeks to adopt new standards for food and agricultural products. The project aligns with the Togo Agri-Food Transformation Project (PTA-TOGO) and, especially, the development of the Kara agropolis, supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
In line with the ambition, Aprodat has launched a call for tenders to pick a consultant to perform the task.
The consultant picked will assess all legislative, regulatory, and institutional texts, good practices, and existing guides, related to animal production and processing.
They will also identify and recommend draft legislative and regulatory texts, standards for implementing farm equipment, specifications, and guides to good agricultural and processing practices applicable to the poultry, fish, and vegetable sectors (rice, sesame, peanuts, and soybeans), in Togo.
All the specifications and eligibility requirements are available in the national daily newspaper (Togo - Presse N° 11384, September 28, 2022 issue).
Bids must be submitted latest by October 6, 2022.
The Kara Agropolis project is one of the country's flagship initiatives in terms of agricultural transformation in Togo. Launched in 2019, this pilot project secured CFA40 billion in financial support, from various backers, including the AfDB.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo keeps improving financial inclusion performances
Financial inclusion keeps improving in Togo. This is shown in a report that was published on September 28, 2022, by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). The document is titled "Tableau de bord l'Inclusion financière dans l'UEMOA au titre de l'année 2021" (Financial Inclusion Scoreboard in WAEMU for the year 2021).
According to the Central Bank, Togo’s strict bancarisation rate (the number of natural persons holding deposit or credit accounts in banks, postal services, savings banks, and the Treasury, as a proportion of the adult population) rose from 27% in 2020 to 30.1% in 2021, an annual increase of 11%.
Regarding the broad bancarisation rate, which takes into account financial services in the broad sense such as mobile money accounts and microfinance, it rose from 80% in 2020 to 84.2% last year, according to the same source.
Over the same period, the overall demographic penetration rate of financial services, which measures the total number of financial service outlets in the country as a proportion of the adult population, increased from 50% to 67%.
For Togo, this marks an evolution in financial inclusion over the decade. According to the BCEAO, the synthetic index of financial inclusion has more than tripled in ten years, rising from 0.204 to 0.626 in 2021.
In the country, this positive trend is driven by several mechanisms, including postal services (Eco CCP in particular), mobile money, mobile banking, and the democratization of microfinance companies. The National Fund for Inclusive Finance (FNFI) also played a role in the shift. Since it launched, about half a decade ago, the Fund gave out over CFA100 billion in loans, covering about 1.7 million beneficiaries who had to open accounts.
Earlier this month, the Togolese government announced the creation of an observatory on the quality of financial services to "support and encourage the progress noted" in terms of financial inclusion.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi