Togo First
Global Trade Corporation ordered to cease its irregular activities
Only a few days after Ghislain Awaga publicly tried to reassure concerned investors, the youth and his company - Global Trade Corporation (GTC) - were warned to immediately cease their irregular activities by the Regional Public Savings and Capital Markets Council (CREPMF).
In a statement, the Abidjan-based Council noted: “Global Investment Trading (Liyeplimal), Global Trade Corporation, High Life, and Chy Mall which claim to be specialized in cryptocurrency trading, dropshipping, etc., proceed to the irregular collection of funds from the public promising them returns.” The list provided by the CREPMF “is not exhaustive given that new unauthorized operators keep emerging.”
The CREPMF urges the GTC and other companies mentioned to contact competent authorities “ to conform to the regulation in place, at the risk of facing sanctions.”
According to a report by a cheated Chy Mall client, the firms do not have the approval they need from the regional council to proceed to public fundraising on the WAEMU regional financial market.
The CREPMF’s warning further jeopardizes Awaga’s efforts to put back his struggling business afloat. The entrepreneur for his part attributes his troubles to his recent decision to migrate towards the real economy.
Séna Akoda
MSC to inject €30mln in Lomé Container Terminal by 2022
By 2022, MSC plans to spend €30 million (CFA19.6 billion) to boost the annual capacity of the Lomé Container Terminal (LCT) to 2.7 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) from 2.2 million TEU now.
This commitment is the first step in the company’s 10-year investment strategy valued at €500 million (CFA328 billion). The latter was revealed in 2019 by Amnar Kanaan, then MD of the Geneva-based firm.
The investment strategy should ultimately raise the port’s annual traffic to 4 million TEU. This volume compares to 1.1 million TEU in 2019 and over 1.4 million TEU in 2020 - a good performance despite trade slowing worldwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The LCT is controlled by International Limited (TIL), a full subsidiary of MSC. The single deep-water port terminal in the Gulf of Guinea is a transhipping hub and a gate connecting Togo’s coasts to Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Since it launched its activities, the platform almost tripled its container traffic.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Key highlights of Sandra Ablamba Johnson at the CIAN Africa Forum
The Covid-19 health crisis and its management, economic recovery post-Covid, and digitalization were the main topics covered by Sandra Ablamba Johnson, minister, and secretary-general of the Togolese presidency in charge of the business climate, during the 2021 CIAN Africa Forum held last week. The official intervened on a virtual panel themed “The private sector, a driving force for recovery post-Covid. ”
On the occasion, Johnson, acknowledging the exceptional nature of the health crisis, listed a battery of measures and mechanisms put in place to mitigate its impacts. “We handled the situation efficiently by setting up very early a crisis committee chaired by the Head of State himself,” she said adding that this committee “worked with health workers.”
A resilient economy!
Owed to its management, the West African country was resilient to the pandemic and even though the economic growth rate expected in 2020, notably 5.3%, was not achieved, the economy did not collapse under the shock. Minister Johnson attributes Togo's resilience to “the quality of bold reforms introduced to improve the business climate.”
Let it be recalled that many tax, fiscal, and economic incentives were also adopted by Lomé to support business owners. These include tax exemptions and facilities to pay social contributions for employers. Also, a CFA400 billion solidarity fund was set to contain Covid-19’s effects on businesses, in addition to water and power being supplied to a specific group of households, the minister said.
Novissi, a scheme for national solidarity amidst the Covid
During the panel, Sandra Ablamba Johnson talked about the Novissi, a mobile money sharing initiative targeting people affected the most by the Covid-19 restriction measures. In less than a week, says Johson, “we developed a digital platform that enabled the victims of the crisis to receive the State’s financial support.”
Besides, the minister who believes in Togo’s capacity to recover from the pandemic also stressed the importance of the digital revolution in the government’s 2020-2025 development roadmap. In this regard, she said the government, “as part of its development strategy, is committed to making Togo a digital revolution hub.”
“Our goal now is to digitalize all public services, create a single social register, implement biometric identification and invest massively in digital infrastructures”, Johnson emphasized.
Séna Akoda
Togo, 6th best reformer in Africa and the best in the ECOWAS (CIAN Barometer)
Togo ranks as the sixth-best country in Africa, in terms of ease of doing business. It also ranks as the first-best country in which business is easiest to conduct in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This is according to the 2020 barometer of the French Investors’ Council in Africa (CIAN).
Results of the CIAN’s survey were published on March 18, 2021, on the sidelines of the 2021 African Forum of the CIAN, subsequent to a webinar themed “Africa’s recovery will also come through businesses!”
On this occasion, Sandra Ablamba Johnson, general secretary of the Togolese Presidency, and minister in charge of business climate, hosted a panel themed “The private sector, a driving force for recovery post-Covid”.
Togo, which was ranked in the 2020 Doing Business report as Africa’s top reformer and the third-best in the world, obtained a score of 2.9 points in CIAN’s barometer. According to the latter, the country is, alongside Benin and Ghana, the best reformer in West Africa.
“Togo now enjoys the trust of foreign lenders and investors, and this is why some famous international firms have decided to invest in Togo, among them are Bolloré, Eranove, Total, Olam, Canal Plus, Dangote, Agou Holding, HeidelbergCement”, said President Faure Gnassingbé at the opening of the 2021 CIAN Economic Forum.
In the same vein, Togo which recently adopted a pro-business finance act, recently announced the digitalization of all of its port’s operations and the canceling of fees required to get connected to the power grid for SMEs.
Out of the 31 countries ranked in the CIAN’s barometer, 15 had a score equal or lower than the 2.5 pts average and 16 were above that average. These countries did well especially in the following areas: infrastructure, administration, economy, finances, social activities, production factors, and sustainable development.
In Africa, the CIAN’s barometer indicates that, the five countries standing before Togo are Mauritius (3.3 pts), Morocco (3.2 pts), Mozambique (3 pts), Egypt (2.9 pts) and South Africa (2.9 pts). At the bottom of the ranking are; Equatorial Guinea, Chad, the Central African Republic, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Séna Akoda
ECOWAS speeds up the process to launch its trade competition regulator
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) took another step towards the operationalization of its competition authority. On March 22, the Advisory Committee of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ARCC) gathered in Lomé to launch the analysis and validation of this operationalization.
During the five days that the meeting will be held, delegates from ECOWAS member states will also examine various drafts that will define the legal framework of the ARCC's interventions on the regional market.
"This committee will then ensure that rules regulating trade competition, at the regional level and in every Member State, are respected," said Tèi Konzi, Commissioner for Trade and Customs Union of ECOWAS.
This decisive step towards the operationalization of the ARCC and its potential launch in Q1 2022, is an additional impetus to boost economic integration and trade among ECOWAS member states. Beyond the regional framework, the operationalization of the regulator will strengthen the legal and institutional framework to facilitate intra-African trade.
Klétus Situ
PIDU to carry out feasibility studies for investments in Dapaong
The government of Togo launched a call for expression of interest to conduct feasibility studies for investment operations in Dapaong. Interested firms have until May 4, 2021, to submit their bid.
In effect, the studies will help determine if the area is fit for the various activities the PIDU (Project d’Infrastructures et de Développement Urbain) plans to develop there. In addition, the firm hired will assess institutional and organizational aspects of the project, related environmental and socio-cultural challenges, as well as issues surrounding communities face and ways to tackle them; all these with the aim of producing concrete results and serving these communities.
A few months ago, it should be recalled, Koffi Tsolenyanu, minister of Urbanism, Housing, and Land Reform was in Dapaong. At the time, the official had declared that “it’s not that the budget reserved for infrastructure in Dapaong has been canceled but the fact is that selected sites are not appropriate.” Tsolenyanu emphasized that future projects could have negative social and environmental impacts on populations.
In fine, the scheduled feasibility studies should enable the government and its backer for the project - the World Bank - to establish appropriate conditions to deploy the PIDU in Dapaong and better target investments to be made.
Séna Akoda
Works at the Blitta solar power project completed
The information was tweeted this weekend by Shegun Adjadi Bakari, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Togo Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, in Energy.
The solar photovoltaic plant, built by Amea Togo Solar, a subsidiary of Amea Power, will increase the country's installed capacity to 265 MW, says the AT2ER. It will provide electricity to 600,000 households and 700 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Also, it will enable Togo to get closer to its 2030 universal power coverage and increase the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50%.
The project, which translates the government’s efforts to cut Togo’s dependence on external power suppliers, will create many jobs.
Séna Akoda
UMOA-Securities: Togo gets CFA22 billion in its latest Covid-19 recovery bond issue
Last Friday, Togo again recorded an oversubscription for its issue of fungible Treasury bonds to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Lomé raised around CFA54 billion and retained CFA22 billion through the operation, according to figures released by the UMOA-securities agency.
This is the third issue of the country as part of its post-Covid recovery plan. It confirms the country’s status as a good issuer.
According to the UMOA-securities agency, the operation falls under the public securities issuance program launched by Togo in line with its mid and long-term debt management strategy.
Séna Akoda
Togo launches AfDB’s platform for women entrepreneurs
On March 18, Togo launched the 50 Million African Women Speaking Program (50 MAWSP). This is a professional social network for women entrepreneurs.
According to the AfDB which is behind the project, it aims to contribute to the economic empowerment of women by providing a networking platform that will allow them to access information on financial and non-financial services. More specifically, the project aims to build a platform to improve the capacities of women entrepreneurs to work in a network, share information, and have better access to financial services. The Togolese ministry for social action, women empowerment, and alphabetization is also invested in the project.
The network concerned should regroup millions of women from three regional economic communities, knowingly the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the East African Community (EAC). The latter -EAC – is in charge of coordinating the project's implementation.
Overall, nearly $14 million was disbursed by the African Development Fund to build the platform.
Klétus Situ
German-Togo cooperation: Germany to support macroeconomic reforms in Togo
On Wednesday, March 17, Togo's foreign affairs minister, Robert Dussey, met with the German minister for economic cooperation, Gerd Müller. This was in Berlin.
During the meeting, the two men talked about ways to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. In this framework, they signed a letter of intent to accelerate reforms falling under the G20's Compact with Africa (CwA) program.
Launched in 2017, the CwA aims to boost private investments in Africa, especially in infrastructure. In detail, the program's goal is to attract more private investments by significantly improving financial, commercial, and macroeconomic environments, through specific reforms. In Togo, the CwA allowed the country to get around €25 million for the Cizo rural electrification project.
It should be emphasized that in recent years, the Togo-Germany cooperation focused mainly on decentralization and local governance issues. Two flagship projects are underway in these areas: there is the Decentralization Support Project on Togo, which is led by the German development bank (KfW), and the Decentralization and Local Governance Program (ProDeGol), steered by Giz.
Klétus Situ