Over this year and the next, the World Bank will provide Togo with budgetary support of $200 million (CFA120 billion). The facility should cover sectors such as agriculture, energy, financial inclusion, education, social protection and gender.

This was disclosed on February 20, 2023, during a meeting between the Togolese Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Sandra Ablamba Johnson, and Coralie Gevers, Director of World Bank Operations in West and Central Africa.

The two talked mainly about the World Bank’s priorities in Togo and of bolstering the relationship between the two sides. 

The World Bank's budget support is based on three pillars, in line with the strategic axes of the Togo 2025 government roadmap. "These are to promote sustainable and inclusive development, strengthen human capital and resilience to shocks, and create budgetary space for priority spending from state resources and public enterprises," the Togolese Presidency stressed.

So far the World Bank’s portfolio in Togo comprises 18 projects, including 9 national projects (worth $420.10 million, or more than CFA252 billion), and 9 regional projects (worth $535.53 million, or about CFA322 billion).

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Robert Dussey, Togo’s minister of foreign affairs, was in Germany last week. He attended the Munich Conference on Security on February 17-19.

At the event, the Togolese official met with several counterparts from European countries, including Germany, Latvia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. 

With the German Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, Dussey talked about the cooperation between Lomé and Berlin, and about efforts to fight against terrorism. 

With the other European officials, he talked about reinforcing the partnership between Togo and their respective countries, in regard to development, security, and peace. 

Robert Dussey also met with General Michael Langley, commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The two men talked about security challenges in the Sahel region.

The Togolese diplomacy attended the Conference in a bid to strengthen its ties with partners, especially in terms of security and development. This, in a context where the West African region has been facing more security issues.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

A delegation from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) met with Togo’s Prime Minister, Victoire Tomegah-Dogbe, last Friday, in Lomé. The delegation was led by the MCC’s deputy director, Mahmoud Bah.

After the meeting, Bah announced that a task force will be dispatched to assess all projects financed under the MCC’s Compact program for which Togo was declared eligible in December 2022. The task force will primarily identify key sectors that require support and select major projects to be implemented. It will also discuss with government officials to produce a partnership framework where the views of both parties converge.

Last month, the ministry of economy and finance started meeting with several stakeholders to identify the main barriers that impede the growth of the Togolese economy and pave the way for the assistance program.

In 2018, Togo secured the MCC’s Threshold program, the Corporation’s first level of grants. Two major projects are being implemented in its framework, namely a CFA20 billion ICT project, and a CFA5 billion agricultural land reform project. 

Esaïe Edoh

Togo just launched its fourth issue on the WAEMU market this year. It is a simultaneous issue of fungible treasury bonds and fungible treasury bills and the country hopes to raise CFA35 billion through the operation. 

In detail, the bonds have a nominal value of CFA10,000 and mature over 3 and 5 years with respective interest rates of 5.5% and 5.7%. As for the bills, they have a nominal value of 1 million FCFA and a multiple interest rate on maturity of 364 days. 

So far this year Togo has raised CFA80 billion on the WAEMU market while its target for 2023 is CFA574 billion. The money is to finance the country’s budget which totals CFA1,957 billion in expenditures and revenues.

Esaïe Edoh

The Kara Hotel is hiring a manager. The ministry of culture and tourism launched a call for applications to recruit the manager on February 17. 

The winning applicant will be tasked with coordinating and monitoring all the hotel’s activities, making sure that it is profitable and sustainable. He or she will also streamline the facility’s governance so it can get another star. This aligns with the ministry of tourism’s ambition to make the complex one of the best hotels in Togo and attract more tourists to the country.

A three-star hotel, the Kara Hotel is the largest hotel complex in the Kara region (Northern Togo). It was renovated last year.

Applicants have until April 3, 2023, to apply. 

Find the call for applications here.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Grassroots Development Support Program (PRADEB) officially ended yesterday, February 16. Supported by the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD), the State program lasted 10 years. 

The PRADEB led to the formation of 578 economic interest groups (EIGs), the installation of 200 multifunctional platforms, and over CFA2 billion was loaned to 1,200 young people as part of the initiative. Also, the program’s managers claimed that it created 8,660 sustainable jobs in the past decade.

In terms of completion, it is reported that the program was completed at 98.97% and 97.12%, technically and financially respectively. "The impact is real on the lives of communities," said Aristide Agbossoumonde, program coordinator. For its part, the BOAD said it was "available to help the government if it wishes to scale the program".

The PRADEB was launched 10 years ago to improve the living standards of grassroots populations and youths. Similar State projects launched around the same time include the Support Fund for Youth Economic Initiatives (FAIEJ), the Support Program for the Employability and Integration of Young People in Promising Sectors (PAEIJ-SP), and the National Agency for Grassroots Development (ANADEB).

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The mandate of Aliou Dia, the Resident Representative of the UNDP in Togo, has come to an end. The UN official announced his departure during a meeting with the Togolese Prime Minister on February 16. 

Dia spent four years in Togo, and during his mandate, UNDP activities in Togo focused mainly on health, education, the environment, sustainable development, energy, decentralization, and security.

"I leave Togo with a sense of satisfaction. We supported the government in the implementation of the NDP, then we stood by the government during and after Covid-19, helping it to face Covid well. And Togo is one of the countries cited as an example in the management of this health crisis. We are at the government's side for the implementation of the roadmap," said Aliou Dia.

The outgoing Resident Representative is also confident that the incoming team will do better. “I dare to hope that everything we have achieved in four years will be better with the new team. That, I am convinced of.”

Earlier this week, on 14 February, the UN system and Togo signed a new cooperation framework for the period 2023-2027 - a framework in which the system will inject CFA150 billion.

Esaïe Edoh

Togolese ministers adopted on February 15 a decree that sets the conditions for laying the submarine fiber optic cable across the country. The decree was adopted during the council of ministers and it also covers the processes for securing necessary authorizations and certificates for laying the cables or building landing stations. 

Concretely, the decree aims to draw a regulatory framework that will enable the government to boost Togo’s economic activities, through the digitalization of services and the implementation of the Equiano Project, Google’s new submarine cable.

In Togo, the project is divided into two phases. First comes the construction of the cable. This is followed by its management and the resale of the international capacity to ISPs, in Togo and neighboring countries.

The government claimed that the decree’s implementation will, “among others, help preserve and protect the sea environment, and ensure that the activity (ed. note: laying the cable) is done in line with the country’s security standards and maritime sovereignty.”

Besides, it should also, according to the authorities, facilitate the concretization of most projects falling under the government’s 2020-2025 roadmap, and foster the development of communication networks.

Ayewoudan Akodah, the spokesman of the government, revealed that a landing station for the Equiano cable is being built in the country at the moment. The project, the official noted, aligns with the dynamic of regulating the cable’s deployment. 

It should be emphasized that Togo is the first African country to receive Google’s Equiano cable.

Esaïe Edoh

David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, will step down by June 30, 2023. The 66-year-old announced the news on February 15 in a press release. In the latter, Malpass said he wanted to pursue “new challenges”, without giving more details.

“The Bank Group is fundamentally strong, financially sustainable, and well positioned to increase its development impact in the face of urgent global crises,” Malpass wrote in the release adding that “this is an opportunity for a smooth leadership transition”. 

David Malpass was appointed in 2019 by Donald Trump.  Some of the outgoing President’s critics accused him of being a climate skeptic. They see his resignation as a strong sign resulting from the World Bank’s ambition to better commit to climate issues.

For now, it is difficult to assess the impact of a possible refocusing of the Bretton Woods institution on climate issues. This is in a context where African countries wish to be more heard in the climate change battle and call for more support and climate equity from the world's major polluters, including the United States, the EU countries, and China.

It is worth noting that Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbé, met with David Malpass last December in Washington. On the occasion, the African leader covered several topics, such as agriculture, mining, and climate change. This shows Africa’s growing interest in these issues.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi