Last year, the Togolese state, its partners, and the private sector mobilized about CFA18.8 billion for the Ministry of Grassroots Development. The figure was recently disclosed by Myriam Dossou-D’almeida, who heads this ministry, during its last annual performance review. 

Compared to 2020, the funds were down by 24.81%, mainly because a number of projects and programs were halted or completed, according to the ministry. 

Still, this money was used to finance several projects, such as a school canteen program, a cash transfer scheme for the poor, road and track maintenance works. A part was also used to bolster grassroots development communities (CDB). Overall, these initiatives revolved around “improving populations’ access to basic social services, and boosting youth employment and growth”. 

Focusing on the 2020–2025 Togo Roadmap

In detail, a billion CFA was sent in the form of cash transfers to more than 60,000 households across the country, around 95,000 pupils received 14 million hot meals under the school canteen project, and 26,223 jobs were created for the youth, among others.

Aligning with the government’s “Togo 2025” roadmap

While lauding these achievements, the Ministry of Grassroots Development wants to do more, in line with the government’s 2020–2025 roadmap. It is especially determined to boost the capacities of communities at the grassroots level and promote municipal development strategies. 

It also plans to expand its school canteen project, set up 164 socio-community and economic infrastructure, extend its cash transfer scheme to 125,000 more households, install 28 multipurpose platforms (PTFM), support structured cooperatives, etc.

As in recent years, Togo will rely heavily on the regional financial market to fund a large part of its 2022 budget. The country will mainly rely on long-dated bonds, based on a successful issue of a 15-year bond at the end of 2021.

While the amount set in Finance Act for the issues it plans to carry out on the regional money market in 2022 stands at CFA533 billion, the Togolese treasury will attempt to seek more. Scheduled dates for the bond issues were unveiled last week at the 4th edition of the Public Securities Market Meetings, organized by the UMOA-securities Agency.

Five hundred and fifty billion CFA. That’s the actual amount the treasury hopes to secure from regional investors throughout the year. While significant, the figure, which was revealed by Kname Bouaré, Head of the Forecasting Division at the General Directorate of the Treasury and Public Accounts, is lower than the CFA570 billion Lomé raised on the same market last year.

Last month alone, the country, let’s recall, closed two successful rounds on this market, in a context where its target for Q1 2022 is CFA180 billion.

Out of the CFA550 billion targeted, Togo intends to secure CFA450 billion or 81% of the total by issuing fungible treasury bonds. Half of this amount should come from 7, 10, and 15-year bonds. This is in line with the country’s debt strategy which aims to reduce its financing risk related to its domestic debt, by favoring long maturities.”

“With UMOA-securities, this year, we are going to carry out one, or more, large operations to absorb the amounts to be mobilized […] a systematic replenishment of securities to reduce the fragmentation of securities issued to constitute deposits of CFA70 to 80 billion,” Bouaré said. 

For 2022, Togo’s financing needs amount to CFA697 billion and over 70% of this sum—CFA533 billion—is expected to come from the regional financial market. At the moment, the country is negotiating with IMF for the remainder, and if they strike an agreement, Togo could issue a Eurobond to achieve its goal.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

African leaders, including Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe, are working to give a new impulse to education on the continent. This was disclosed on Feb 1, 2022, during the 39th Session of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) held via videoconference.

After watching a presentation on the "link between education and development: a paradigm shift," the leaders agreed that the heart of the matter was to match the education system to the continent’s needs for adequate human capital.

Also, President Paul Kagame from Rwanda and Chairperson of the HSGOC, during the meeting, gave his peers an update on Africa's partnership commitments, to mobilize resources necessary for achieving NEPAD’s goals.

It should be highlighted that the meeting coincided with NEPAD’s 20th anniversary, and  was an opportunity for the Heads of State to assess the level of  implementation of the organization's 2063 Agenda.

NEPAD’s  mission is to tackle Africa’s major challenges, notably ending poverty, as well as fostering its growth and sustainable development.

Esaïe Edoh

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Africa (BOA) will host a meeting in Lomé this week, on the 6th and 7th. The news was announced Tuesday, Feb 1, by the group’s MD, Youssef Ibrahim, during an audience with Togo’s Prime Minister, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé, 

Ibrahim told the PM that leaders from all 19 subsidiaries of BOA, including Togo’s, would attend the meeting. He said they would discuss the Bank’s support to the Togolese economy, among other things. "During the council, we will talk about financial inclusion, support, and how to support some promoters’ projects for the economy," said Youssef Ibrahim.

The roundtable’s announcement comes a few weeks after the BOA committed to supporting the activities of Togolese economic operators as part of efforts to restart the country’s economy post-Covid. The lender made this promise in December while presenting the findings of a study on Covid’s impact on Togo’s private sector.

Further back, in 2020, the BOA inked a CFA412 million deal with the Togolese government to support three local SMEs picked during the Togo-EU Economic Forum (FETUE).

The BOA opened its Togolese subsidiary in 2013.

Esaïe Edoh

The Togolese government is currently working on its 2023-2025 Public Investment Program (PIP). A workshop, chaired by Sandra Ablamba Johnson, Minister, Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic, was launched last Monday in Lomé in this framework.  

The new program should align with reforms introduced by the public investment programming (in July 2021), and even more with the government’s 2020-2025 Togo roadmap, the Presidency noted. The upcoming PIP should in effect take into account certain investment planning guidelines introduced by these reforms. This especially includes Lomé’s ambition to rely more on the private sector, thus lowering pressure on public finances. The government also wants to improve coordination between ministries and expand the PIP to local authorities, public enterprises, and public-private partnerships.

Let’s recall that Togo has allocated over CFA500 billion to investments in its 2022 appropriation bill; 37% of this amount (CFA194 billion) will be internal resources while the remaining CFA324 billion should be grants (CFA178 billion) and loans (CFA145 billion). 

In Togo, nearly 95,000 pupils (94,712) received over 14 million hot meals in 2021, as part of the government’s school canteen program. The figure was recently reported in the annual performance review of the Ministry of Grassroots Development. The document adds that the meals were shared among 337 preschool and primary schools, which is 8% of these school categories in Togo.

Steered by the Grassroots Development Agency (ANADEB), the school canteen program should soon be extended to Togo’s poorest areas, in the Savanes region notably. According to grassroots development experts, this focus aims to tackle current security issues facing this part of the country.

"We want to focus our actions in the Savanes region," said Wanata Adisso, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Grassroots Development. "In this region, we will expand the school canteens, compared to previous years. We plan to cover all border villages with social canteens," he added.

Latest data available shows that since 2008, more than 75 million hot meals have been distributed in Togo, thanks to the support of various partners (notably the World Bank). This cost more than CFA22 billion.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo will soon have a new local airline connecting its northern and southern regions. This was revealed on Jan 31, 2022, by Col. Dokisime Gnama Latta (photo), who currently heads the Société Aéroportuaire Lomé Tokoin (SALT). The announcement was made at the 35th-anniversary celebration of the SALT, which manages Lomé’s airport.

"There is a project, for a company - whose name I do not yet know - and which is already underway. This year, this company will provide Lome-Niamtougou flights, three times a week," SALT’s boss said.

Togolese authorities also plan to expand Lomé’s airport’s terminal, as well as build an airport at Gbatopé, near Tsévié (37 km from Lomé).

"Given the exponential increase in the number of travelers using Lomé’s airport, which has become a platform of trust and excellence, we plan to build a second terminal and open other lines. We are planning to build an airport with two parallel runways on 8,000 hectares at Gbatopé, close to Tsévié,"  Col. Gnama Latta said.

The news comes almost 20 years after the country’s former public airline, Air Togo, ceased operations. For now, Lomé, which hopes to become a sub-regional logistics hub, houses the headquarters of Asky, a private airline. This company currently serves 22 cities in 20 countries across West and Central Africa.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo recently launched Trade Barriers Africa, an online mechanism aimed at boosting trade by removing non-tariff barriers (NTBs) between African countries. The facility is a component of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

"From now on, thanks to Trade Barriers Africa, Togolese traders will be able to report these barriers, also known as non-tariff barriers, and obtain their removal with the support of national authorities," said the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in a statement released January 31, 2022.

The platform allows traders and companies that move goods across Togo’s borders to report NTBs that impede their activity in the country. According to the UN body, such NTBs include, among others, “quotas, excessive import documents or unjustified packaging requirements.”

"Trade Barriers Africa is a concrete response to the daily problems of micro, small and medium-sized cross-border businesses. If they should thrive, it is imperative that non-tariff barriers, which not only lengthen the procedures for transporting goods but also cost traders, disappear," said Simon Ognadou, National Focal Point of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Local Consumption for AfCFTA.

Trade Barriers Africa was developed by UNCTAD and the African Union, and launched in January 2020, to help make trade in Africa easier and cheaper. So far, UNCTAD said, the platform has reportedly helped remove over 600 non-tariff barriers.

The Togolese government officially projects to spend CFA11 billion this year on projects aimed at improving its people’s living conditions.

The funds, under the supervision of the Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing, and Land Reform, will be used to make cities cleaner, build roads, facilitate movement in urban areas while making road traffic safer. A part will also cover sanitation, waste management, flood risk management, and public health projects.

All these projects align with the first axis of the government’s 2025 Togo Roadmap. This axis is aimed at bolstering social inclusion, harmony and consolidating peace in the country. These projects include the Roads and Waterworks Rehabilitation Project which will be implemented in 10 of the country's main cities, and the $30 million Urban Infrastructure and Development Project (PIDU), which has been underway in several Togolese cities for several years.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi