Togo First
Togolese authorities are working on developing a whole value chain of cotton by-products
Togo is exploring ways to develop a whole value chain of cotton by-products. The country, which mainly grows the crop for export is carrying out a feasibility study for this project and key players have been working on its validation since February 15, 2022, in Lomé.
The stakeholders concerned include the Nouvelle Société Cotonnière du Togo (NSCT)), the FAO, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), officials and members of professional organizations and local cotton farmers, but also regional directors of the ministries of trade, industry, and local consumption.
“The Togolese government is doing everything possible to diversify and professionalize the agricultural sector, particularly the cotton sector, to meet the ambitions of processing industries as more of them are settling in our country, encouraged by continuous improvements in the business climate,” said Talime Abe, secretary-general of the ministry of agriculture, at the opening of the validation session.
Concretely, the feasibility study aims to “evaluate our country’s potential to develop a value chain of cotton by-products parallel to cotton production,” according to the ministry of agriculture. The study was launched as part of a project that is focused on technology transfer related to cotton by-products in Togo. This project was implemented by UNCTAD and funded by the Enhanced Integrated Framework.
Cotton by-products are secondary products derived from cotton production or obtained after the processing of the main product. These include for example cotton stalk, its fiber, and seeds, or lint (low-quality fibers attached to seeds during ginning).
Currently, cotton is Togo’s main cash crop. In 2020 and 2019, the country obtained respectively $64 million and $98 million for its exports; the biggest buyers are based in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Vietnam, India, and China).
This year, the NSCT, which has come under the control of the Singaporean group Olam, expects cotton output to rebound, reaching 135,000 t. This is in a context where production has been sluggish in recent years.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
BOAD gets half the amount it needs to double its capital
The West African Development Bank (BOAD), has completed the first stage of its capital increase, raising CFA837 billion, with the support of its main shareholders (regional and non-regional).
“I am pleased to announce that BOAD has completed the first stage of its capital increase for an amount representing more than half of its target of USD 1.5 billion. I would like to thank our shareholders for this support,” Serge Ekué (photo), President of the BOAD, said on February 16.
Besides regional shareholders (WAEMU’s eight member states) which led the Series A round, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) also contributed to the fundraising, according to BOAD.
They should be followed by non-regional shareholders (Series B), which are Germany, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), China, France, Belgium, and Morocco. These shareholders also support growth in the BOAD and WAEMU countries. The AfDB, France, and Morocco are especially expected to contribute to the Bank’s capital increase.
“The success of this joint mobilization of the Bank's regional and non-regional shareholders is an essential first step in enabling the institution to raise its capital and deploy its strategic plan for the next five years,” the BOAD indicated.
The BOAD’s project to double its capital is part of its Djoliba plan approved in September 2020 by its Board of Directors. This plan will allow the lender to ramp up its commitments to the WAEMU’s states and private companies by more than 50% over the next five years.
Concretely, the Djoliba plan should enable the BOAD to provide up to $4 billion in financing to WAEMU’s economies, with a focus on the five following sectors: infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and food security, health and education, tourism-oriented real estate, and social housing.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: SOTRAL to expand its bus fleet with a CFA15 billion investment from the government
In Togo, the Société des Transports de Lomé (SOTRAL) will expand its car fleet via a government-backed project worth more than CFA15 billion.
Announced by the ministry of transport, the project will enable SOTRAL to get new buses, MAN buses notably, a few months from now.
This project aligns with the fifth axis of the government roadmap, which aims to “make Togo a logistics and services hub in the sub-region.”
The new buses will allow the company to cover new areas in the capital, and later other cities in the country.
It should be recalled that the minister of transport, Affoh Atcha-Dédji, visited last June the headquarters of MAN in Lomé. On the occasion, he could have a look at a prototype of the buses that SOTRAL is expecting.
Esaïe Edoh
Payment of toll fees on the Lomé-Kpalimé road halted amid rehabilitation works
In Togo, the collection of road user fees at the "PK17" site on National Road No. 5 (Lomé-Kpalimé) has been temporarily suspended due to ongoing work on the axis. This was stated in a press release issued by the ministry of public works on February 14, 2022.
The public authority explains that "due to rehabilitation and asphalting works on the Lomé-Kpalimé road and the construction of the Aképé or PK17 toll booth, the collection of road user fees is temporarily suspended.”
Pending the delivery of Aképé’s new toll booth, a new temporary toll booth will be set up at the old toll site of Zanguéra, to allow the Société Autonome de Financement et d'Entretien Routier (SAFER) to shortly resume collecting toll fees.
Last year, from March to May, collection of toll fees was also halted on the same axis, due to rehabilitation and asphalting works that required the demolition of the Zanguéra toll booth.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togolese authorities plan to regulate cement exports as the country faces shortages
Due to the recent shortage in cement supply that Togo faces, in its northern region especially, price speculation is becoming recurrent. To tackle this issue, the government decided to “regulate cement export,” according to the minister of trade, Adédzé Kodjo recently.
The official, during a field visit to Dapaong (620 km north of Lomé) last week, argued that "it doesn’t make sense that we have a cement industry and yet have a shortage.”
Cement shortage caused the price of the commodity, in the northern region especially, to increase from CFA81,000 per ton to CFA85,000. The situation, which also brought construction at many project sites to a halt, was described by the minister of trade as abnormal. "It is a contradiction. We can not be shipping 65% of the output of Cimtogo-Kara, in the north of the country, and be facing shortages all the time.”
Adédzé Kodjo met with players of the sector and told producers to give priority to Togolese distributors.
Let’s recall that back in October 2021, after distributors decided, one-sidedly, to raise prices of cement, the ministry of trade warned them it would take appropriate measure and would “severely sanction any violator, per the law.”
Esaïe Edoh
Public Policies: Togo sustains its performances in the World Bank’s latest CPIA rankings
Togo is one of the four non-fragile countries where the quality of public policies and national institutions improved in 2020. This is according to the World Bank’s latest Country Policy and Institutional Assessment for Africa (CPIA) report covering the period from January to December 2020.
Indeed, "the non-fragile countries that recorded an increase in their overall score are Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Rwanda, and Togo. Rwanda solidified its position at the top of the ranking, with its overall score rising to 4.1 from 4.0 in 2019, and Togo continued to perform well overall on the CPIA, with a 0.2 point increase in its overall score to 3.5," the Bretton Woods institution said.
Togo’s overall score is both above the average in West Africa and the overall average in all 39 sub-Saharan African countries eligible for assistance from the International Development Association (IDA).
In detail, Togo's most important area of progress in 2020 is in Economic and Policy Management for Social Inclusion and Equity, with a score of 3.7, compared to 3.2 for its worst-performing area (Public Sector Management and Institutions).
"Togo has emerged as a strong reformer among IDA countries in the region in recent years," the World Bank indicates. "Before COVID-19, the government had taken a series of measures to maintain macroeconomic stability," it adds, emphasizing the positive impact of measures such as the Program-Budget approach, a "rapid and effective response to the COVID-19 shock to mitigate the economic and social impact of the pandemic," and the digitization of tax administration, which "helped contain the negative impact of the crisis on revenues, which would have been greater in the absence of these budget measures."
Overall, the country’s scores were above the averages of the IDA and the sub-region in the four main categories included in the CPIA (Economic Management, Structural Policies, Social Inclusion, and Equity Policies, Public Sector Management, and Institutions).
In these respective categories, Togo scored the following: 3.7 in economic management (against respective averages of 3.4 and 3.2 for West and Central Africa and the IDA), 3.3 in structural policies (against respective averages of 3.2 and 3.2 for West and Central Africa and the IDA), 3.7 in financial inclusion and social equity (still above average compared to the West and Central Africa average and the IDA average, both at 3.3), and 3.5 for gender equality (the IDA average is 3.3).
At the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) level, Togo ranked 12th out of 39, while it came 7th out of 20 in West and Central Africa. In SSA, Rwanda topped the ranking (with a score of 4.1) and Cabo Verde came first in West and Central Africa (with a score of 3.8).
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Sanlam Insurance opens three new offices in Lomé
Sanlam Insurance opened three new branches in Lomé last Thursday. The new offices are located in Kégué-Zogbédji, Agoè-Démakpoè, and Djidjolé-Totsi.
According to Sanlam’s country manager, opening the new offices is part of the company’s “proximity policy” which aims at enabling the population to access its products and services (automobile, fire accidents, miscellaneous risks, transport) more easily.
Sanlam Togo changed its name from Saham Assurance Togo in 2021. The firm has been under South African control for a while. Sanlam Togo has the largest network of offices in the country.
U.S. aid to Togo reaches new peak in 2021
New commitments from U.S. agencies rebounded in 2021, reaching their highest in two decades, according to ForeignAssistance.gov, the State Department platform that compiles data on U.S. foreign assistance. This record follows a drop in 2020, amid tensions between Lomé and Washington following the presidential election in Togo.
As of April 2, 2021, the date of the last update of foreign aid data, U.S. agencies had already committed $43 million (CFAF 24.7 billion) to Togo. This amount is well above the $25 million (14 billion FCFA) pledged in 2019, the second most prolific year for the African country since 2001.
An increase driven by the MCC
In 2021, U.S. commitments were driven primarily by the final financial approvals of the MCC under the Threshold program with the Togolese authorities. The program, which entered its operational phase last year, has a budget of $34 million (CFAF 19.5 billion), spread over several sectors including ICT and land.
$20 million for ICT
Unlike previous years when U.S. aid focused on the basic education and health sectors, in 2021, Uncle Sam's grants went largely to the ICT sector, especially to finance public policies in telecommunications and administrative management. More than $20 million (11 billion FCFA) in new commitments have been made by the MCC, to improve people's access to quality and affordable services. Ultimately, the commitments were aimed at attracting more private investments in the sector.
27% of commitments already disbursed
Of the $43 million in commitments, some of which are to be spread over several years, 27%, or about $12 million (CFAF 7 billion), has already been disbursed, in 2021. This is the highest amount disbursed that year, Togo First noted.
These disbursements were mainly in the health sector, through Family Health International (FHI 360), and in the education sector, notably through Catholic Relief Services and the Peace Corps, the leading U.S. development assistance agency in Togo, ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with more than $115 million in commitments.
Position in Africa
At the continental level (sub-Saharan Africa), the aid Togo received is well below the regional average estimated at $220 million. Togo ranked 31st in the list of U.S. aid destinations. The ranking is dominated by Ethiopia with $1.3 billion.
Since 1946, Togo has received over $380 million in aid from the U.S., including only $11 million in military grants. This total amount does not include loans given by the US Exim bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which total more than $150 million.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
EU-backed fund Investors & Partners supports the digital transformation of Lomé Business School
The European investment fund, Investors and Partners (I&P), will help Lomé Business School (LBS) create an e-learning platform. The financial support, I&P’s first in a private business in Togo, was announced by the fund last week, via a statement.
Under the partnership, LBS will also get equipment and be supported in implementing an educational engineering process involving digitalization aspects.
I&P’s investment is part of its I&P Acceleration in the Sahel scheme. The latter is aimed at West African start-ups and SMEs.
"Our model is based on training by national and international experts and personalized support, as well as practical internships in companies each year and student entrepreneurship to guarantee 100% professional integration," said Fulgence Amani, telecommunications engineer, and co-founder of LBS. "We also emphasize access to digital technology and equipment for all students, international exposure, and exchange programs with European business schools.”
Launched 20 years ago, the I&P fund mainly finances and supports start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is backed by the European Union (EU).
"We are delighted that the I&P Acceleration program in the Sahel has begun operations in Togo with the financing of the first company in the vocational training sector," said Joaquín Tasso Vilallonga, Ambassador of the European Union to Togo. "This is a good start for this program, in which the EU injected €15 million to support small businesses with high growth and job creation potential. This is an ambition that the EU shares with the Togolese government, in line with its 2025 roadmap in support of MSMEs - a great contributor to the country's economy," he added.
Founded in 2013, LBS is an international college based in Lomé. It offers business management and IT courses. The school aims to offer courses that meet international standards, especially big French universities.
Lomé to host the next WAEMU Banks and SMEs Fair
The 8th edition of the WAEMU Banks and SMEs Fair (SBPME-UEMOA) will be held in the Togolese capital, next November. The information comes from Hermann Naglo, Permanent Secretary of the show, who communicated on this event at the end of a meeting with the President of the Special Delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Togo (CCIT), Nathalie Bitho.
During this meeting in Lomé, cooperation between financial institutions active in the West African Economic and Monetary Union will be discussed, to improve intra-community trade in the context of continental free trade. Also, just like in the previous years, SMEs will have the chance to establish new partnerships with banks.
This week, Hermann Naglo provided the President of the Special Delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Togo (CCIT) a summary of preparatory activities and asked for its support for the event.
The fair is held in all eight member states of the WAEMU, on a rotational basis. Besides fostering partnership creation between SMEs and banks, the SBPME-UEMOA helps assess how much these businesses contribute to the Union’s economic transformation.
Esaïe Edoh