The government disbursed CFA300 million for cultural actors, under the 2021 Fund for Support to Culture (FAC). The list of beneficiaries was released by the ministry of culture and tourism on September 1. 

The money will finance 512 projects picked out of 965 submitted in response to a call for projects launched by the government. This is a timely blessing for cultural actors who have been struggling due to the measures Lomé imposed to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CFA300 million will be shared as follows: 131 million for 252 performing arts projects, 31 million for plastic art projects, 58 million for film projects, 24 million for literature projects, 40.4 million for heritage conservation projects, and 15 million to enable Togolese actors to attend local and international cultural events. 

This is the sixth time that the government is supporting cultural actors through the FAC.

Esaïe Edoh 

Togo has joined the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). It was disclosed on the OECD's official portal.   

Togo is the 140th country to join the tax reform. Doing so, it commits to implementing the 15 reforms the OECD recommends to tackle tax avoidance and regulate multinationals' activities. 

"Through its membership, Togo has also committed to addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy by joining the two-pillar plan to reform the international tax rules and ensure that multinational enterprises pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate, bringing to 134 the total number of jurisdictions participating in the agreement," the OECD said.   

The first pillar of the two-pillar package will enable fairer distribution of profits and taxing rights among countries concerning the largest Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), including digital companies that operate, physically or not, and make profits in the West African country.  

The second pillar will introduce a global minimum corporate tax rate that countries can use to protect their tax bases. 

There are still many details Togo will look into regarding the two-pillar plan. An agreement should be signed by the end of October 2021 but it will be implemented in 2023. 

Klétus Situ

Set to end next December, the School Assur program has covered 2,615,962 healthcare services as of August 29, 2021. The data was disclosed by the ministry of financial inclusion and the informal sector. 

In detail, the program has financed 1,031,059 medical visits, 13,660 admissions, 48,097 surgeries, 290,310 analyses, and 1,232,836 drug purchases. 

According to the source, the figures reflect the growing impact of this presidential program, especially on the health of public school students and pupils.”

School Assur was launched in 2017. As a presidential initiative, it aimed to provide free healthcare services to public primary and secondary school students. It mainly covers sickness and liability risks.

The program should have ended in 2020, but it was extended to the end of this year. 

Esaïe Edoh

From now on, the motor vehicle tax (TVM) paid by lorry drivers will be checked at designated weighing points. This was announced by the Office Togolais des Recettes (OTR) and the Société Autonome de Financement de l'Entretien Routier (SAFER).

"Before checking up weight and axle load of lorries and others, payment receipts of the TVM must be presented,'' reads the statement issued by the OTR and SAFER. Control will begin on September 1, at Djerehouten’s weighing station which is on the N°1 national road, in the  Plateaux region.

Lorries must comply with gauge, weight, and axle load standards. This is important to ensure road safety and preserve infrastructures along the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey and Abidjan-Lagos corridors that pass through Togo; so is collecting the motor vehicle tax (TVM), as 85% of these revenues are used for road maintenance in Togo

Klétus Situ

Brazil, South Africa, India, the UK, Russia, Portugal, and Tunisia. Those coming to Togo from these seven countries will automatically be quarantined for 72 hours upon arrival.

According to the Togolese ministry of health, the decision follows “the discovery of new variants of Coronavirus that are highly virulent and spreading rapidly in these countries.” 

The quarantine holds “regardless of the Covid test result” of the passengers concerned. This was disclosed in a letter to the director-general of the national agency for civil aviation (ANAC). 

A similar measure - a 10-day quarantine - was taken on July 13, 2021. The measure concerned passengers from Brazil, South Africa, India, the UK, Russia, and Portugal.

Esaïe Edoh 

The World Bank approved last Thursday the disbursement of $60 million (about CFA33 billion) by the International Development Association (IDA) to support education in Togo. The funds will enable the implementation of the “Improving Quality and Equity of Basic Education Project” in Togo. 

The monies will be injected into the government’s 2020-2030 Education Sectoral Plan. This was disclosed in a statement released by the World Bank, and obtained by Togo First. 

In detail, some of the funds will “boost primary and middle school education, as well as improve the overall management of the education system.”  Part will also be used to build classrooms, train teachers, reform curricula, and raise schooling rates of girls in remote areas. 

Hawa Wague, the resident representative of the World Bank in Togo, declared regarding the financing that it will “contribute to the government’s 2025 roadmap by supporting key projects aimed at raising school capacities and the quality of education, towards increasing the country’s human capital ranking.”

The project, let’s recall, was announced a few days after the Togolese government said it would pay school fees of public middle school and high school students for the 2021-2022 academic year.

 Esaïe Edoh

Lomé’s airport will be equipped with a PV solar plant. To this end, a tender was launched to hire the firm that will carry out the project. 

The selected company will design, deliver and install the plant, said Société Aéroportuaire de Lomé Tokoin (SALT) which launched the tender. SALT indicated that the tender’s winner will also finance the project. 

In 2016, the airport was renovated and expanded. It now receives two million passengers per year, against 600,000 at the time of the renovation. The works had cost $150 million (CFA83 billion). 

Esaïe Edoh

To implement its 2020-2025 development program, the Golfe 6 municipality (in the south-eastern part of Lomé) will raise CFA3.4 billion.

The plan was approved last Friday and according to the municipality’s authorities, 44% of the funds will come from the municipality itself, 1% from the civil society, and 55% from partners.

The plan revolves mainly around three axes. The first aims to improve administrative, financial, and sociopolitical governance. The second seeks to develop a diversified, sustainable economy where decent jobs will be created. The third and last axis aims to improve living standards and access to basic social services. 

The mayor of the Golfe 6 municipality, Jean-Baptiste Dagbovie, noted that the plan’s major objective is to “improve living standards of all social layers of the population.” 

Esaïe Edoh