The Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Dussey received yesterday, July 15th, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador. The two diplomats mainly discussed cooperation between Lomé and Riyadh, as well as potential investments the latter could make in the former.

"Together, we reviewed our bilateral cooperation and investment prospects of Saudi Arabia in Togo. We examined the possibilities of bilateral cooperation between our two countries," Dussey tweeted.

New investments of Saudi businessmen in Togo should allow Saudi Arabia to strengthen its position in the West African country. 

Indeed, since 1980, Riyadh, through the Saudi Development Fund (SDF), has helped finance - through loans and grants - various projects in Togo, knowingly in the agricultural, infrastructure, and water sectors.

Esaïe Edoh

Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of finance and economy, recently urged the country’s banks to double down on efforts to innovate their services and financial products. This was during the National Credit Council (CNC), which he chaired. 

The official believes banks need to develop new, enhanced services and products considering businesses’ current investment and operational needs. 

Also, to relieve debtors, Yaya suggested that banks should extend their reimbursement periods and reduce the cost of borrowing. This, he said, should help “meet the financing needs of all components of value chains”; in a country where young entrepreneurs and agricultural actors struggle to get bank loans and those who do have to pay back in short periods.

The minister, however, praised how Togolese lenders are digitizing their offers, notably by providing online services. 

Among other improvements recorded in the banking sector, new loans granted in Q1 2021 amounted to CFA195 billion, which is 54% more than in Q1 2020. 

Esaïe Edoh

The government issued a tender notice to recruit consulting firms that will assess accounts of public institutions in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The closing date for bid submission is July 30, 2021. 

The audit mainly covers public companies, public administrations, State funds, or independent organizations that received State subsidies for the years concerned. 

The selected auditor will check if these parties used the funds they were provided as intended, hence meeting set regulations. In addition, the firm will ensure that goods and services purchased with the State funds were subject to contracts that respect Togo’s procurement code.

Finally, the auditing firm will authenticate all documents submitted to prove transactions undertaken by the audited entities. Subsequently, it will specify the financial impact of potential financial misconduct. 

Esaïe Edoh

Seeking CFA25 billion, Togo issued last Wednesday fungible treasury bonds on the WAMU securities market - an issue set to close on July 23, 2021. 

In detail, the bonds have a nominal value of CFA10,000 and will mature over 10 years, at an interest rate of 6.2% per annum. The proceeds will be used to support the recovery of the Togolese economy post-Covid-19. 

“The present issue, titled Obligations de Relance OdR (ed. note: recovery bonds),  aims to mobilize funds from legal and natural persons, meet the issuer’s budget financing needs in the framework of economic recovery, curb effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and return to performances recorded before the health crisis,” the WAMU securities agency said. 

This is Togo’s first issue on the regional money market this quarter; a quarter during which the country hopes to secure CFA110 billion. This is after raising CFA183 billion (against CFA165 billion forecast), on the same market, during the previous quarter. 

Togo, it should be noted, plans to spend in Q3 2021 nearly CFA200 billion to service its debt on the public securities market (MTP). 

Experts from the Togolese and Nigerien transport administrations held on July 14 a work session in Lomé, Togo’s capital. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a visit by Niger’s minister of transport, Oumarou Malam Alma. 

On this occasion, the two parties assessed the concerns of actors operating in the sector and of those who use the Lomé-Niamey road. 

President Faure Faure Gnassingbé is currently in Abidjan. The leader is attending a summit dedicated to the 20th edition of the International Development Association (IDA20). which is being held today. 

In all, around 20 African leaders and executives from the World Bank should regroup at the event. They will talk about the increase of IDA financing for African economies; to enable the latter to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic.  

“I am taking part today in Abidjan, in the summit on the replenishment of the resources of the International Development Association (IDA). During this meeting, we will work toward an international mobilization to increase the IDA20 resources,” President Gnassingbe tweeted.  The leader believes that "cooperation between African states and their development partners, including IDA, remains more than vital for the recovery of post-pandemic economies.”

"The summit will be sanctioned by a declaration, the ‘Abidjan Declaration’, which will serve as a roadmap to mobilize $90 billion before the end of 2021 for key sectors such as human capital, job creation including the private sector and economic recovery,” the Togolese presidency said. 

Togo, let’s recall, was backed by the IDA to support its private sector and poorest populations who have been most affected by the pandemic. 

Klétus Situ

From August 19 to 21, 2021, Lomé will host the first edition of the Togo Food Safety Week. This was disclosed by the MIFA S.A (Mécanisme Incitatif de Financement Agricole Fondé sur le Partage de Risques).

The event, themed “agro-entrepreneurship and the integration of the quality approach for a sustainable local consumption” will gather local production actors, including producers, craftsmen, processors and other actors of the Togolese agrofood chain. 

Throughout the said week, agripreneurs will have the opportunity to showcase their “business, products and services.”  

The Togo Food Safety Week aligns with the government’s efforts to boost local consumption. It was in this framework that Lomé launched the local consumption month (which is at its third edition this year). 

 Esaïe Edoh

"There are ways to transform the Togolese rural economy through a new integration dynamic, by leveraging energy and digitalization." Ibrahim Thiaw, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification said this last week, in Germany, while meeting with Togo’s PM, Victoire Dogbé.

Thiaw believes the transformation is a real opportunity since land is a source of income for the people and it can create jobs for the youth, among others. 

Indeed, transforming Togo’s rural economy should enable the country to implement the UN Convention to combat desertification, in the sense that the latter promotes good land management. 

In line with the Convention, national programs have been adopted to fight desertification; programs which will be harmonized at the regional level by bilateral and multilateral agreements.  

Esaïe Edoh