Togo First
Togo gets CFA20 billion from the BOAD for the Adetikope industrial platform, PIA
Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) will provide the integrated industrial platform of Adetikope (PIA) with a CFA20 billion financing.
The decision was taken during the 13rd board meeting of the Lomé-based bank. On that occasion, CFA95 billion worth of new commitments were approved.
The PIA is a project led by a joint venture with a capital of CFA17.6 billion. The latter is between the Togolese State and Mauritius-based firm Arise IPP. The project aligns with the government’s ambition to make the country a logistics hub to industrialize the local processing of many Togolese products, particularly agricultural products such as cotton, cashew nuts, soybeans, rice and sesame, and thus facilitate their export.
The BOAD financing should be quite helpful for Arise IIP which disbursed the €200 million needed to initially create the PIA. The latter should become operational on June 6, 2021, many months behind schedule.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo: Agricultural performances in 2020-2021 season
In Togo, while cotton output in the 2020-2021 season was almost halved, production of cereals, tubercles and vegetables improved.
The country recorded a surplus this season, according to a report recently presented by the ministry of agriculture, husbandry, and rural development, Antoine Gbégbéni. The official pointed out that the coverage rates for the need in cereals, tubercles, and vegetables stood at 101%, 160%, and 240% respectively.
This performance aligns with that recorded in the previous season and over the past decade generally.
Indeed, in 2019-2020, Togo recorded a surplus of around 70,000 t of cereals (corn, local rice, sorghum, millet, etc.). The surplus is exported in the sub-region and abroad as well.
In the ended season, let’s note, cultivated areas also increased. However, the country still grapples with a deficit in meat and fish products; The coverage rates for the need of these products are estimated at 60% and 34% respectively.
PIA will be inaugurated on June 6, 2021
Initially scheduled to be operational in January 2021, Adetikope’s Industrial Platform (PIA) will finally be inaugurated on June 6, ten months after the project was launched. The inauguration will be presided by President Faure Gnassingbé.
The project, which cost more than CFA130 billion, is one of the flagship projects of the government’s national development plan (PND). Spanning 400 hectares, the platform is developed by Arise IIP, an expert in industrial park development. The firm’s major stakeholders are Singaporean Olam and Africa Finance Corporation, the largest infrastructure financing institution in Africa.
Besides the industrial area it will host, the PIA will have a container (12,500 TEU) storage park, a platform to store cotton and other commodities, as well as a 200,000 m2 area dedicated to logistics.
World Bank disburses additional CFA6 billion for Carrier Hotel project
To boost connectivity and support its digital economy, the World Bank will provide Togo with additional financing of $11 million (about CFA6 billion). The Bretton Woods institution, on May 21, said it approved the facility via its specialized arm, the International Development Association (IDA).
The financing falls under the West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program - WARCIP. The latter aims to improve the World Bank’s support to major projects undertaken in Togo, cut costs of communication services and expand the reach of broadband.
In detail, the monies will be used to “complete the construction of the neutral and open hosting and co-rental center (Carrier Hotel).” The latter said the Washington-based institution“will serve as a regional hub for the purchase and resale of international bandwidth capacity on the broadband market in Togo.”
“The installation of planned infrastructures as part of this project will help reduce the cost of international connectivity and support Togo’s digital transformation program,” added Hawa Cisse Wagué, Resident Representative, World Bank Togo. Moreover, the funds announced should help finalize the 2025 Digital Togo strategy.
WARCIP-Togo is part of the second phase of the WARCIP, a larger project financed by the World Bank ($300 million) and aimed at bridging connectivity gaps in 16 countries in West Africa and other parts of the world.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Faure Gnassingbe pleads for a strong partnership between NEPAD, AfCFTA, and SAATM
Yesterday, May 25th, President Faure Gnassingbe took part in the 38th Session of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee. The meeting took place on the sidelines of Africa Day, which is celebrated on that date, by videoconference.
During the talks, the Togolese leader asked for a partnership to be established between AUDA-NEPAD, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the institutions of the African Union (AU). These entities are in charge of Africa’s development and integration.
“This strategic meeting is an opportunity to discuss how to address common challenges in the context of Covid-19 and build the Africa we want,” the Head of State tweeted.
Among other subjects covered by the African President are development policies, sustainable energy, gender, resource mobilization, the health crisis, and key projects for regional integration falling under the 2063 Agenda.
As a reminder, NEPAD is a project focused on the development of Africa through infrastructure. It was initiated in 2001 by the African States. On May 27, 2021, in partnership with the Ecobank Group, the NEPAD will launch the financing component of the “100,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)” program. A billion CFA will be injected into this component.
The UK ranks Togo as a low-risk country for Covid exposure
British citizens returning home from Togo need no longer be quarantined upon arrival. This was disclosed by the UK which ranked Togo as one of the countries with the lowest Covid-19 exposure rate.
These travelers will simply have to present their negative PCR test and self-isolate for 10 days. Meanwhile, UK travelers who return from high-risk countries will be quarantined for 10 days, in the government’s facilities, at their own expense.
The announcement is a testimony validating efforts implemented by Togolese authorities since the start of the pandemic.
It should be recalled that the Togolese government recently launched the inoculation campaign for the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine across the country. So far, more than 276,000 people have been vaccinated in the country, according to official figures.
Daniel Agbenonwossi (intern)
Assembly passes law to protect coastline
Last Thursday, the Togolese parliament voted a law to protect and valorize the coastline, in a context where it is endangered by natural and human factors.
The law, deputies said, aims to sustain environmental balance, slow erosion, preserve the integrity of some sites, as well as landscapes and marine heritage. It should also protect the coast against pollution and degradation, regardless of its origin.
Commenting on the law, Yawa Tsegan, President of the National Assembly, said it should “ensure a sustainable development and preserve and leverage the country’s riches.” The latter, she adds, are the sources of Togo’s economic attractiveness, as well as of its social and cultural development.
For his part, Edem Tengue, Minister of Maritime Economy, said “the law opens up the path for the government to act against threats facing the coastline”.
Over the past 10 years, the sea has gulped a significant part of Togolese coast. A study conducted in 2015, by the West African Coastal Observation Mission (WACOM), reported that the coast’s withdrawal was about 20 m per year, at key beaches such as the Baguida-Katanga beach, Agbavi and Doèvikopé.
Government plans on leveraging digitalization and formalization to fight money laundering and corruption
On May 22, 2021, the Togolese Prime Minister, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé, urged actors to coalesce their efforts to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing. This was during the 23rd meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in Africa (GIABA).
According to the PM, money laundering is gaining momentum in West Africa, thus the need to act in unity to fight it.
“The magnitude of these phenomena in our sub-region challenges us more than ever. We have the obligation to unite our efforts, strengthen our cooperation to carry out concrete actions and exchange information to effectively fight against money laundering and terrorist financing,” Tomegah-Dogbe said. She also stressed that “the Togolese government considers that the total digitization of the economy, coupled with a formalization of economic actors is an important lever to achieve this goal.”
These comments were supported by Kimélabalou Aba, GIABA, Director-General. He however insisted on the synergy of the means of the Group's Member states to fight corruption more effectively.
According to the GIABA, money laundering and terrorist financing cost West Africa nearly $73 billion per year. Most of these funds are laundered through tax evasion ($43 billion) and corruption ($20 billion).
Ousmane Sonko will not take part, physically, in the Eco Summit
Ousmane Sonko, leader of the Senegalese opposition party PASTEF, will not be in Lomé for the coming summit on the Eco. Due to a decision of the Senegalese justice, he will take part in the event via videoconference.
Sonko, who was released from prison on March 8th, under judicial supervision, was expected to attend the event alongside other major actors of the African economy. These include Cape Verdean Cristina Duarte, the special advisor for Africa to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Carlos Lopes from Guinea Bissau, Benin’s former Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, and AfDB’s chief economist, Emmanuel Pinto Moreira.
Ousmane Sonko came third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential elections. His criticism of the CFA was one of his main focuses during these polls.
The Eco Summit is set to commence tomorrow, May 26, 2021, at the University of Lomé (UL), and end on May 28. An initiative of the Togolese economist Kako Nubukpo, the event’s driving theme is “From CFA to ECO: Which currency for which development in West Africa?”
New peanut varieties introduced in Togo
To valorize its peanut sector, Togo adopted earlier this year, new, more productive varieties. A total of 13 varieties from the Mali-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and four from the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA) were in effect introduced and tested in Togo.
These varieties’ seeds are certified and have a guaranteed 45% yield rate, according to the Togolese Institute of Agronomic Research (ITRA). The institute also notes that “peanut varieties grown in Togo give low yields.” For the 2020-2021 agricultural campaign, it adds, the country had a low output, which stood at 43,407 tons.
As part of efforts to modernize the sector, twenty (20) processing units have been installed and are operational; they produce an average of 15 t of oil per month.