Togo First
IB Bank-Togo inks financial deal with PIA, few months after Coris Bank
IB Bank-Togo will financially support two firms located at the Industrial Platform of Adetikope (PIA). The lender signed the related financing agreement with the PIA last Friday, November 25, in Lomé.
The two beneficiaries are Togo Soja and Togo Organics who will use the new funds to boost their agricultural output, invest in the construction of their factories, transform local products, and buy raw materials. Part of the funds will also finance the 2022-2023 agricultural campaign in Togo.
Nabil Tahari, Head of IB Bank Togo, said the financing agreement shows the bank’s commitment to economic growth. It is worth noting that agriculture is one of the key strategic axes of IB Bank Togo.
"The Board of Directors of IB Bank and the entire management committee did not hesitate to approve all requests from the PIA to support the government both relative to industrialization projects and to the 2022-2023 agricultural campaign," said Tahari.
For his part, Commander Sandah Idiola, government representative at the PIA, believes that the deal materializes the country’s ambition to grow “by transforming our own input, in this case, agricultural input.”
It should be emphasized that IB Bank-Togo had already committed to supporting the government’s 2020-2025 roadmap.
Let’s also note that IB Bank-Togo is not the first local bank to support the PIA. A few months ago, the PIA obtained CFA20 billion from Coris Bank, to bolster soybean processing.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Fintech: EziPay lands in Togo, making it easier to transfer money to neighboring countries
Mauritius-based money transfer startup, EziPay, is now operational in Togo. With its mobile app, Togolese residents will be able to receive and send money from and to Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Mali, Benin, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, the startup posted on Facebook.
The EziPay app will “give people means to send money easily, safely and reliably, across borders, at a cheap cost.”
The company offers technology-based payment services that can operate via a mobile money wallet, bank account, or Visa/Mastercard. The international platform claims to have 3 million users in 55 countries and more than 12 million transactions.
In Togo, EziPay joins other fintech startups such as Cinet Pay, Pay dunia, or Semoa.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
African States must take on four major roles to support the growth of the continent’s finance industry - President Gnassingbe
Faure Gnassingbe, the Togolese President, claims that the African States have four main tasks as part of their contribution to the development of the continent’s finance industry. He said so on November 28, while launching the second edition of the Africa Financial Industry Summit hosted in his country.
The first task is to build an attractive business climate. In this area, the leader believes “there is still more to be done”, even if much progress has been made regarding taxes, legal stability, and administrative bottlenecks.
The second task befalling the State is to foster information-sharing. “Not only information on the business environment, but information of businesses themselves”. He then gave the example of Togo which produced its 2025 roadmap, based on a coherent list of projects.
The State must play its role of referee.That is, according to Gnassingbe, the third mission that will ensure that an investment is sustainable and responsible. "It is necessary to be able to take into account the elements that affect pollution, and the loss of diversity, among others. And there, obviously, the public power finds its role of referee between the positive results of the investment in terms of profit and employment on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the environmental constraints," Gnassingbet explained.
The last task of the State is to organize innovation. While it benefits all actors of the financial sector, the public sector, first and foremost, is the ally of the most innovative of these actors and they are many examples illustrating this, the President noted.
The State must, therefore, support actors of the finance industry, because, “our common success depends on this collaboration between public powers and the financial sector.”
Esaïe Edoh
WAEMU securities: Togo paid back nearly 300 billion CFA by the end of October 2022
So far this year, Togo has paid back CFA299 billion out of what it owes WAEMU investors. As at November 10, 2022, the country raised CFA433 billion from these investors this year.
The funds reimbursed break down into 27.5 billion of fungible treasury securities and 271.43 billion of fungible treasury bonds. This is according to data from the UMOA securities agency that Togo First consulted.
This year, Togo, it should be noted, intends to raise CFA663 billion on the regional money market. The proceeds will serve to finance the national budget.
Esaïe Edoh
The IFC gives details about its priorities in Togo
Sergio Pimenta, Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for Africa, met with President Faure Gnassingbe on 28 November. The two men met on the sidelines of the African Financial Industry Summit held in Lomé, Togo.
On the occasion, the IFC’s VP for Africa talked about his institution’s priorities for Togo in the coming years. "We discussed financial inclusion and many other major areas of our priorities which are the development of agriculture, agribusiness, logistics, and transport which are important sectors of the Togolese economy. Togo is a very important country for the IFC,” Pimenta said.
The IFC also plans to strengthen its partnership with Togo, based on the latter’s “consistent commitment to the promotion of financial industries across the continent.”
Currently, the IFC’s portfolio in Togo is estimated at CFA450 million. The World Bank’s private sector financing arm, in the West African nation, finances mainly social infrastructure projects, digital projects, and energy and agricultural transformation (SMEs and SMIs) projects.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo: the 2nd edition of AFIS Summit begins in Lomé
The Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbé, launched the second edition of the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) today, Nov. 28. The two-day event is being held in Lomé and it is the first time it takes place physically.
Over 600 decision-makers from the African finance industry are attending the summit. These include central bank governors (of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, the BCEAO, etc.), ministers, regulators, bankers, CEOs of Fintechs, banks, and insurance companies (Equity Group, Ecobank, BOA Group, SANLAM, NSIA, etc.), and financial actors. They will discuss several topics such as agricultural finance, exchange interconnection, mobile money, climate finance, AfCFTA, cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies, and Basel III issues, among others.
According to the organizers of the event which is sponsored by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the AFIS should “allow African industry leaders to contribute to the continent’s economic recovery through the development of a competitive, innovative, inclusive, and sustainable financial industry.”
Amir Ben Yamed, Director of Jeune Afrique Media Group, which is one of the organizers, claims that seeking financial sovereignty must be a priority for Africa. He believes the continent should put its financial industry under the international spotlight. This is an opinion shared by Sergio Pimenta, Vice President, IFC. Pimenta even added that African banks must take over the financing of African trade, in a context where the latter has an annual deficit of nearly $90 billion.
For President Gnassingbe, however, the future of African finance will be built through a tight collaboration between the governments and the private sector, especially given the current global crises–the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, notably.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Access to water: Lomé will host an important meeting for Togo this week
Lomé will host, on December 1 and 2, a roundtable on access to water in Togo. In partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), the ministry of water and rural hydraulics is organizing the meeting.
During the two days the meeting will take place, Togolese authorities will discuss the country’s vision regarding access to drinking water, talk about related priorities, mobilize stakeholders, and secure commitments (both technical and financial) to implement the Master plan for the supply of drinking water in Greater Lomé.
The master plan covers the period going from 2023 to 2050. It is designed to improve water supply in cities, restructure the current network and equip it with new infrastructure.
Overall, authorities estimate that it will cost CFA600 billion to implement the plan by 2030 and CFA1,400 billion in 2050.
The project, it is worth mentioning, aligns with the government’s ambition to bring water supply coverage to 80% in Togo, by 2023.
Esaïe Edoh
President Gnassingbé was recently in Niger with other African leaders to discuss Africa’s industrialization
Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe, was in Niamey on November 25, with other African leaders. They gathered for a meeting dedicated to Africa’s industrialization. The meeting follows an extraordinary summit of heads of State and government of the African Union (AU) on the AfCFTA.
In Niger, the leaders examined new policies to speed up Africa’s industrialization and strengthen the growth of regional chains of value.
"Industrialization and the free flow of value-added products on an integrated market are essential for our development," said Faure Gnassingbé on his arrival in Niamey.
A day before, November 24, Kodjo Adedze, Togo’s Minister of Trade, revealed the country’s progress in terms of industrialization, during the Review of economic transformation policies. Adedze especially talked about a site, at the Industrial Platform of Adetikope (PIA), that will receive several companies, with about 20 deals already sealed.
Esaïe Edoh
In a recent hearing, Faure Gnassingbé talks Togo’s economic development with Ecobank’s new MD
Faure Gnassingbe, the Togolese President, gave an audience to Ecobank’s new Managing Director, Jeremy Awari, last Thursday, November 24. According to the Togolese presidency, the Kenyan was part of a delegation from the banking group that its board president, Alain Nkontchou, led.
During the meeting, Jeremy Awari reiterated Ecobank’s ambition to bolster its partnership with Togo; notably, it wants to support the country’s economic development strategy, the Presidency reported.
"We have discussed with the Head of State, the partnership between Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Togo. We have an ongoing, fluid, and important relationship with Togo, which is home to Ecobank's headquarters and most of our management. We would like more than ever to play the role of capital provider and support to the Togolese economy which is doing well given everything that is happening in the region," said Alain Nkontchou, at the end of the hearing.
The new MD of Ecobank was announced last September. He takes the place of the Nigerian Ade Ayeyemi, who was heading the group since 2015 but retired this year.
Based in Lomé, Ecobank is present in 33 African countries.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Climate: Togo seeks to tap more into Green Climate Fund
Lomé hosted an information meeting on the development of projects for the mobilization of climate finance, on 24 November 2022. The meeting was organized in the framework of Togo’s preparation program for accessing the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The organizers were the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Togolese Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources.
The workshop brought together various climate change experts and actors fighting the phenomenon. The former told the latter about strategies to raise funds they need for their environmental protection projects. Specifically, they were told the requirements needed for accessing the GCF.
To get climate financing, notably the GCF’s funds, applicants need well-prepared projects that meet the criteria set by lenders, since the major roadblock for accessing financing is directly linked to the lack of bankable and economically viable projects, according to the resident representative of the GGGI in Togo, Benin, and Ghana, Innocent Kabenga.
A few days ago, let’s recall, Togo was at the COP27 in Egypt. There, Togolese representatives complained about the reticence of polluting countries to mobilize funds to compensate small polluters that suffer irreparable damage caused by climate change.
Esaïe Edoh