The Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing, and Land Reform is recruiting a team to control and supervise the development, sanitation, and asphalting works on streets in Lomé. The roads concerned span a total of 14.34 km.

In detail, the works will be carried out on Boulevard Mobutu, 1,739 mi long, and Rue Maria Auxiliadora, 2,668 mi long, in Akodessewa, a neighborhood located in the suburb area, 8 km from the city center.

The deadline for recruitment is March 16, 2021, and the recruitment includes a prequalification phase where the six best applicants will be selected. After this phase, each of the six rivals will present their technical and financial proposals on a technical quality-cost ratio basis.

Séna Akoda

Projecting to update the website of the Business Formalities Center (CFE), Togolese authorities will carry out a public survey to assess if the platform meets users’ needs. The government thus seeks a firm capable of shouldering the project, collecting users’ opinions and suggestions to improve the digital platform. 

The mission of the hired firm will also include developing interfaces needed to update the CFE’s database. This should also facilitate the online issue of the single business creation card, automated production of statistics, and statement publishing. 

Let’s recall that the CFE website also serves as a channel for legal announcements, and a reliable registry of businesses created in Togo. It has helped reduce delays in launching businesses to less than seven (7) hours.

Séna Akoda

Togo shows budget surplus results for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. This means its income exceeds its expenditures for those fiscal years.

Last Wednesday, at the Council of Ministers’ weekly meeting, the Togolese government confided that the good budget performances were attributable to regulations drafts (which assess, at each end of the fiscal year, the final amount of State expenditure and revenue).

The council of ministers in an official statement said it is pleased with the “outstanding economic performance of our country,” especially “despite the socio-political crisis in 2018.”

Indeed, in 2018, Togo faced some socio-political disturbances that affected State revenue (for example, a shortfall estimated by some experts at CFAF 50 billion in tax revenue, due to economic activities disruption). In the process, the country had used a supplementary budget to give itself an extension ... a rather common practice.

The 2019 budget bill was projected at CFA francs 1,461 billion in expenditure and revenue, against a forecast of CFA francs 1,310.9 billion in 2018, showing an increase of 11.5%. For the fiscal year 2021, Togo adopted a budget of more than CFA francs 1,521 billion, with strong social commitment, but slightly low compared to the fiscal year 2020, due to the ongoing health and economic crises induced by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The latest bond issue of Togo on the WAEMU securities market was oversubscribed with investors raising CFA112.69 billion. 

This was reported last Friday by the Umoa-Titres agency which arranged the operation. The latter, let’s recall, aimed at supporting Togo’s economy in its efforts to recover post-Covid. 

The coverage rate for the issue was 563.48%. This is an astonishing performance considering that Lomé was only seeking CFA20 billion. 

Out of the total mobilized, however, the treasury will retain CFA22 billion. 

As a reminder, bonds issued will mature over five (5) years. The corresponding interest rate is 6.1% per annum. 

Sena Akoda

The Caisse Regionale de Refinancement Hypothecaire (CRRH-UEMOA), based in Lome, becomes the third best-rated financial institution by Moody's in the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). The other institutions are the West African Development Bank ( BOAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Indeed, Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") assigned the following first-time ratings to CRRH-UEMOA in 2020: Ba2 long-term corporate family rating (CFR), Ba2/Not Prime long and short-term local currency (LC) issuer ratings, as well as Ba3/Not Prime long and short-term foreign currency (FC) issuer ratings.

Moody's explains the CRRH-UEMOA ratings by the strong asset quality underpinned by conservative structuring of its lending, and its solid levels of capitalization with a TCE (tangible common equity) to tangible managed assets ratio (excluding subordinated debt) which stood at 7.6% as of December 2019 (7.0% as of December 2018).

With an assessment that places it in the "Non-investment grade speculative" category, the CRRH-UEMOA still has a way to go to reach the top of Moody's rating system (Prime or High-Grade Categories, from Aa3 to Aaa). It nevertheless has one of the best grades in the sub-region, with, for example, “only” 4 ratings below from the BOAD’s Baa1.

The institution wants to position itself with this grade as "one of the best institutions in the Area," especially since Moody's rating allows it to be viewed as "the best issuer rated in WAEMU after BOAD (Baa1-) and AfDB (AAA) .” The AfDB is by far one of the best-rated entities on the continent.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Togolese government has set up three new marine weather stations on three different sites (the Lome’s Port, Kpeme, and the customs office of Kodjoviakope). The facilities were inaugurated last week.

In addition to these three stations, there are two current meters (to measure the speed of water flow). This equipment, whose acquisition was made possible thanks to the support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), cost CFA348 million.

This new arsenal should allow Togo to improve the quality of its maritime services, and further boost its blue economy.

Commenting on the acquisition, UNDP’s resident representative Aliou Dia said “the equipment will provide data on the state of the sea and the marine and coastal environment, to facilitate maritime navigation, improve fishing activities, search and rescue at sea, and the resilience of the population and ecosystems of the coastal zone.”

Kletus Situ

Togo wants to better assess and certify its areas of mining potential. It announces, with the support of the World Bank, an airborne geophysical campaign that will also make it possible to provide the country with geoscientific data. In this regard, Mila Aziable, Minister Delegate for Energy and Mines, declared: “At the end of this campaign, Togo will be more attractive on the market.”

This survey will be carried out under the Mining Development and Governance Project (PDGM). It will enable the country to gather all the available information in real-time and also to confirm its mines mapping. Let’s recall that Togo already has a portal dedicated to mines registration.

Through the initiative, Togo, which recently adopted a bill to modify its mining code, ultimately aims to attract more investment in this sector.

Sena Akoda

In Togo, users of public administration services will soon be able to make digital payments. A draft decree in this direction was examined on February 17th during the Council of Ministers.

The projected bill, which is part of the law on the promotion of banking and the use of cashless means of payment, aims to “promote the use of e-payment within the Administration, banking, financial inclusion, and the fight against corruption, money laundering and the financing of terrorism”, indicated the government.

This measure comes in the context of the digital transformation of payments and administration, which has already been initiated in the country for several years now.

In this regard, we have several large entities and public utility establishments, such as the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) and the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), which have already set up mechanisms and arrangements to enable digital payments for their services.

Kletus Situ (intern)

Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, a senior official and former Prime Minister of Togo, was reappointed on February 17th as the head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which he had headed since 2017.

IFAD’s board of governors, the Fund's main decision-making body, has renewed its trust in him, for a second four-year term.

Not long after he was reappointed, the Togolese announced, on social networks that he would focus, during his new term, on consolidating actions undertaken in the first.

"My first priority will be the consolidation of the reforms carried out over the past four years so that IFAD's path towards doubling its impact by 2030 becomes irreversible," he said on Twitter.

Also, the Rome-based institution informed that emphasis would be put on Covid-induced challenges, and global disturbances. Through his second mandate, the appointee will also give special attention to technological solutions, innovative financing models, and new partnerships with the private sector.

Indeed, "As the pandemic continues to devastate rural areas, an increase in poverty and hunger is predicted. Therefore, it is more urgent than ever that IFAD moves into high gear," added Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo.

As a reminder, in Togo, IFAD supports many structuring initiatives set to develop the agricultural sector, in particular, the risk-sharing Agricultural Financing Incentive Mechanism (MIFA), and the National Rural Entrepreneurship Project (PNPER), which was renewed in 2020, thanks to good performance.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi