Togo First
Togo: Trade deficit deepens amid a stronger dollar and higher oil imports bill
Last year, Togo’s trade deficit widened by 24% year-on-year, with the figure standing at CFA514 billion. This unprecedented increase happened despite exports going up, and a stronger dollar against the euro.
Togo recorded a trade deficit of CFA514 billion in 2022. That is 24% more than the previous year. The gap increase was strongly driven by a rise in goods imports. The latter soared from CFA1,202.7 billion in 2021 to CFA1,444.6 billion FCFA, up by 20%.
Oil was the main reason for the situation. Indeed Togo’s oil imports rose from CFA162.8 billion to CFA259.2 billion FCFA, over the period reviewed. Meanwhile, rising global oil prices, and a stronger dollar, put a lot of pressure on Togo's import budget, and this subsequently led to higher at-the-pump prices.
Regardless, the country’s exports increased by 21.89% to reach CFA900.3 billion in 2022. But this was not enough to balance the leap in imports.
Things were worsened by a significant drop (40%) in the balance of services. Usually in surplus, the latter stood at only CFA29.9 billion in 2022. The collapse was mainly attributed to the increase in freight and insurance bill, which is essential for transporting goods. This bill went up from CFA181.6 billion to CFA218.1 billion or 20.07%.
The strong dollar played a key role in the overall situation. By increasing the cost of dollar-denominated imports, notably the oil bill, the dollar's appreciation had a significant impact on the trade deficit. The potential benefits of this appreciation for exports - notably on phosphate, whose sales remained good, and cotton, despite a bad season - were not enough to counterbalance its effects on imports.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo: Food Production Up in 2022
Togo’s food production rose slightly in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to a report by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
Production of corn, the country’s most grown and consumed cereal, stood at 977,300 t in 2022. This is 5% more than 2021’s 929.000 t (and 885,000 t in 2020). Production of other cereals, like millet and sorghum, rose as well, though less significantly–from 304,600 t in 2020 to 317,900 t in 2022, up 4%.
Rice output grew by 3.8% over the period reviewed. In detail, Togo produced 171,800 t of paddy rice in 2022, up from 165,500 the year before.
In the tubers category, yam production jumped 5% to a million t in 2022, and cassava’s stood at 1.258 million t, up by 4.5% YoY.
Beans and cowpeas, for their part, rose from 211,900 t in 2021 to 226.5 t in 2022, up 6.8%.
The production of the other crops grown in Togo rose from 2.29 million t in 2021 to 2.48 million t in 2022, up by 8.3%.
Agriculture contributes over 40% of Togo’s GDP, and the sector employs nearly 65% of the working population. Also, 3.6 million ha or 60% of the country’s total land area is arable land.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
WAEMU-Securities: Togo to Carry Out a New Issue, Seeks CFA30 billion, Again
Togo plans to proceed to another issue on the WAEMU stock market on June 16. The country intends to raise, again, CFA30 billion through a simultaneous issue of fungible treasury bonds and fungible treasury bills.
Lomé hopes to get CFA10 billion with the bills and the rest with the bonds. The former securities have a face value of CFA1 million, a multiple interest rate, and will mature over 364 days. As for the latter, the bonds, they have a face value of CFA10,000, and interest rates of 6% and 6.25% on maturities of 3 and 5 years respectively.
The operation’s proceeds will plug Togo’s 2023 budget, which totals CFA1,957 billion. So far this year, the country has raised CFA264 billion on the regional money market. Its annual target is CFA574 billion.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo: Almost Two Million Saplings Planted on National Tree Day
Nearly 2 million saplings were planted in Togo, on June 1, National Tree Day. The same day, the country kicked off its new national reforestation campaign.
Precisely, the number of saplings planted was 1,915,204. The figure, disclosed by the Minister of Environment and Forest Resources, Foli-Bazi Katari, is 35% higher than that recorded the year before –1.4 million saplings.
Lomé praised all parties that contributed to the improvement: public figures, associations, volunteers, the private sector, individuals, etc., urging them to keep up with their efforts.
For this year's reforestation campaign, the country aims to plant 14 million saplings, almost tripling last year's result. By 2030, the country hopes to have planted 1 billion trees.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Security: Togo Joins Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS
Togo officially joined the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS last Thursday, June 8. This was during a ministerial meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia–a meeting attended by Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
A big thanks to the Global coalition against Daesh who give a warm welcome to the Republic of Togo this day as a new member. Together we are strong. @KSAmofaEN @KSAMOFA @StateDept @SecBlinken https://t.co/46kyFUtLok pic.twitter.com/KXbdYDPtIt
— Robert Dussey (@rdussey) June 8, 2023
Besides Togo’s adhesion to the Coalition, the meeting’s participants talked about the emergence of Daesh/ISIS affiliates in West Africa, the Sahel, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa.
They also approved an Action Plan from the Africa Working Group, adopted last March in Niamey. This is a plan that calls for the mobilization of the Group’s members for greater cooperation to bolster civilian-led counterterrorism capacities and strategic communication in African countries.
We are pleased to welcome the Republic of Togo ?? as the 86th member of the Global Coalition against Daesh. Togo's membership is a welcome step in advancing regionally-led efforts to halt Daesh's influence and activity in Africa. #OneMissionManyNations pic.twitter.com/QHXn5LZHiy
— The Global Coalition (@coalition) June 8, 2023
Togo, let’s emphasize, has recently faced some terrorist incursions in its northern region near the Sahel. Joining the Coalition should enable the country to enhance its security measures and security-oriented partnerships. It should also draw more support from partners like the European Union, Germany, and other sub-regional countries.
The Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS regroups over 80 governments and organizations. A US initiative, the Coalition fights the terrorist organization through military efforts, but also focuses on counter-propaganda, tackling terrorism financing, and fighting foreign terrorists.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: President Gnassingbé lays the first stone for an agricultural mechanization center in Kpalime
The Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbé, laid the first stone for the Kpalimé Regional Agricultural Mechanization Center (CRMA) in Tové, on June 9, 2023. Kpalimé is the second town, after Kara, where such a facility is being built. Construction works for Kara’s began last April.
Equipped with modern tools and equipment, the CRMA of Kpalimé will streamline agricultural production processes, and consequently increase arable land and productivity in the West Plateaux region (where Kara is).
Like the Kara Center, it will also feature an agricultural machinery display area.
The project in Kpalimé stems from the Togo Regional Agricultural Producers Forum (FoPAT) that was held between January and April 2023. It will accelerate agricultural modernization in Togo.
It is worth noting that similar facilities are planned across the country, particularly in the maritime, central, and savanna regions.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo earned CFA17.53 billion from its extractive industries in 2020 (report)
Between January and December 2020, Togo earned 17.53 billion FCFA from its extractive industries. The figure was disclosed in the ITIE 2020 report for Togo, which was released just a few days ago.
The funds were levied mainly from big mining companies. They contributed CFA14.68 billion, while underground water operators contributed CFA1.19 billion, and construction material producers and small-scale miners contributed respectively CFA1.17 billion and 500 million FCFA
The earnings from extractive industries represented 1.5% of the country’s GDP in the year reviewed. According to the report, the extractive sector contributed 1.4% of the jobs created in 2020.
Over the past few years, Togo has introduced several reforms to ensure more transparency in its mining industry and double the latter’s contribution to national wealth. The reforms include launching a web portal for the mining cadaster where all mining contracts are posted. Lomé also launched the Mining Development and Governance Project (PDGM), a project which aims to better evaluate Togo’s mining potential.
Esaïe Edoh
Phosphate: Togo records a significant surge in output and sales
Togo’s phosphate industry recorded substantial growth –production and sales– in 2022. The surge was driven by soaring global prices for the commodity and several initiatives that Lomé launched to dynamize Togolese agriculture.
Phosphate production grew by 5.9% in 2022, reaching 1,541,772 tons. Sales rose from 1,386,811 tons to 1,583,180 tons, thus up 14%. The figures were released by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
The growth was mainly spurred by an exceptional 116% increase in global raw phosphate prices over the year ended, extending an upward trend that took root in late 2020. The price per kilo indeed rose from 48.9 FCFA in Q1 2021 to 197 FCFA per kilo at the end of the year. This translates into an average high of 300 dollars per ton throughout the past year. Blessed manna for Togo’s phosphate company, the SNPT, which benefited from the rising dollar exchange rate.
This price increase is attributable to rising costs of inputs like ammonia, sulfur, energy, transportation, and agricultural harvests, experts explain, due to the war in Ukraine and the global economic recovery post-Covid.
Togo hadn’t recorded such high sales volumes since 1999. Based on last year’s performance, this year, the country could set a new sales record for the commodity.
The surge in Togo’s phosphate output and sales follows several steps taken by the country to revive its extractive industry. Togo is among the top 15 phosphate producers in the world, and it wants to bolster the local value chain by processing its ores locally.
In line with this ambition, Lomé recently signed (May 2023) several agreements with OCP Group (formerly Office Chérifien des Phosphates), the state-owned Moroccan phosphate fertilizer company. The agreements cover the establishment of a fertilizer plant in Togo, a project that was initially entrusted to Dangote Industries in 2019 but did not come through.
There is also NutriSource Pte Ltd, a Singaporean firm, which should soon kick off production at its new NPK fertilizer plant, located within the Adétikopé Industrial Platform (PIA). The factory is expected to produce 200,000 t of fertilizer per year.
Besides these, Lomé sealed a major mechanization deal with the Bonkoungou Group, on May 5, 2023. Under the deal, Bonkoungou Distribution (BKG) is to provide local farmers cutting-edge equipment at lower costs, via the leasing solution of BOA Togo.
For Togolese agriculture, which is at the heart of the government’s projects, these developments could mark a turning point.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo: Adjafi Fair to be held from August 24 to September 10, in Agoè-Nyivé
This year, the Adjafi Fair, an event that showcases young entrepreneurs, will be held in Agoè-Nyivé, as usual. This edition, the eleventh, is scheduled to take place from August 24 to September 10.
The theme of the upcoming fair is "Agritech, a niche for innovation by young entrepreneurs at the service of agricultural development". As usual, it will feature exhibitions, and a roundtable for SMEs and SMIs, and dedicate a day to guest municipalities of honor.
A regional phase is also announced, including two shows: the Rice Show and the Local Juices and Beverages Show. The 18-day event will also feature a dozen shows.
The fair will be held at the Agoè-Nyivé high school.
Togo Publishes The 2020 Extractive Activities Report, Could Reintegrate EITI Soon
Togo just released its extractive activity report for the year 2020. The country published it within the 6-month deadline imposed by the board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) from which it was temporarily suspended earlier this year.
Now that Togo has released the report, it should be reintegrated into the EITI as the latter’s board promised when the suspension was announced. Besides Togo, Kazakhstan, and Mexico were also temporarily suspended from the Initiative for failing to publish their 2020 extractive activity report by December 31, 2022.
The EITI is an international organization whose goal is to promote good transparency and accountability practices in the governance of the extractive sector. By publishing its extractive activity report, Togo shows it is committed to the Initiative’s principles.
Esaïe Edoh