In line with the 2021 finance bill, Togolese craftsmen and micro-entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector will pay only CFA20,000 for the single professional tax (TPU), under the declarative region. The tax which cost 300,000 in 2020 was cut by 93% for the current year. 

According to the Togolese Revenue Office, the reduction aims at aligning this tax with the minimum amount the Togolese tax authority collects from those covered by the real regime. 

The TPU, let’s recall, is a single tax combining various taxes such as the VAT and the personal income tax (IRPP). Based on the new rules of the General Tax Code, it is exclusive to individuals with an annual turnover that is equal to or less than CFA60 million, regardless of the business they run.

Séna Akoda

In 2018 and 2019, Togo’s fish output exceeded 37,000 tons (37,102 tons), according to data from the Fishery and Aquaculture Directorate (DPA) relayed by the official portal of the Togolese Republic. 

Most of the production came from the fish port of Lomé. In 2018, the infrastructure produced 95% (17,260 t) of the total output the DPA reported that year. The following year, it produced 17,534 t of fishes, thus 92% of the total volume reported (18,960 t) at the national level. 

The rest of the country’s fish production came from Kodjoviakopé (Togo-Ghana border), Payédémé (Togo-Benin), and the Nangbéto Lake. 

Compared to the two years before where the average fish production per annum was 20,000 t, output in 2018-2019 was down. 

The decrease is mainly due to the overexploitation of fish banks and strong competition among fishermen of neighboring countries; a situation that led authorities to introduce new reforms to reinforce the sector, and boost domestic fish production. Some of these reforms include the systematic introduction of biological rest or the launch of the fisheries management plan. 

Let it be recalled that in Togo, more than 20,000 people work in the fishery sector which contributes nearly 4.5% of the country’s GDP.

“We noticed that some ill-intended individuals have been forging documents issued by the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), notably the social discharge,” declared Ingrid Awade, head of the Fund. 

The document is issued by the CNSS to employers who regularly pay their social contribution. It enables them to proceed to administrative formalities, especially when they wish to take part in a tender for a public contract. Ingrid Awadé reminded the various institutions that “only the original copy of this document, signed, dated, stamped and valid for a certain period of time is authentic,” adding that “legalized photocopies of this document are prohibited and illegal.”

More importantly, the CNSS’ director-general put the emphasis on the digitization of the process to issue the document and the related application procedure. According to her, all applications for the social discharge are processed within 48 hours. 

Séna Akoda

Last Monday, a workshop was held in Lomé to train agricultural experts from the member States of the African Organization for Intellectual Property. The focus of the workshop was new plant varieties and it aimed to boost agricultural yield and production. 

Themed Technical Assessment for the Distinction, Homogeneity, and Stability of new plant varieties, the meeting is to last five days. It should enable producers from the OAPI to get quality seedlings, subsequently boosting their productivity. 

The initiative supports African farmers cultivating food crops like maize, rice, and sorghum, and cash crops also. The OAPI wants to help researchers develop “new varieties that will resist climate change, and produce better yield, therefore boosting output; this requires that we change production techniques,” said Guy Francis BOUSSAFOU, Director of patents and other technical creations. 

Lastly, the workshop’s goal is to protect the work of researchers from the OAPI’s member-States. This, according to the director-general of the national institute for intellectual property and technology (INPIT),  Mnanta Komi LAMATETOU, “will reassure the researchers regarding their investment, since they will have exclusivity to produce and sell the crop varieties for 25 years.”

“In Togo, the researcher who develops a variety brings samples to the INPIT”, LAMATETOU says, “and submits an application for a patent which is then sent to the OAPI.”

In all, there are 17 people being trained at the workshop and 3 experts from the OAPI.

In 2019, agricultural exports from Togo generated CFA110.7 billion, up 9.4% against 101.2 billion in 2018. The figure was reported by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). 

The apex bank, assessing Togo’s balance of payments in 2019, further indicated that 62% of the exports were traditional cash crops, knowingly Cotton (51.7%), Cocoa (5.37%), and Coffee (4.63%), while 36.9% were plant-based food products (cereals, flours, peppers, spices, vegetables, and fruits) and 1.28% were other products. 

In detail, cocoa exports generated nearly CFA6 billion in 2019, thus 17% more than in 2018 (CFA5 billion). Coffee exports on the other side garnered 23% less over the period (falling from 6.6 billion to 5.1 billion). 

Sales of cotton fiber grew by 16.8%, from 49 billion in 2018 to 57.3 billion in 2019. 

Plant-based food for their part earned the country nearly 41 billion in 2019, a significant amount though it is down 4.4% compared to the year before. Other agricultural commodities (cotton seeds, wood, and oilseeds) generated CFA1.4 billion, up about 18% over the period reviewed. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Two years after its last update, the motor vehicle tax has been amended again. The move aligns with Togo’s new finance law and it will introduce new tariffs for certain types of vehicles. 

The news was disclosed on January 18 by the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR). According to the latter, the tax measure concerns tricycles, trucks, vans, road tractors, as well as some bikes, especially those over 125cm3.

The tax is payable in full, once a year. It varies between 15,000 FCFA for motorcycles over 125cm3 to 65,000 FCFA for trucks over 12 tons, i.e. a 50% cut (compared to 130,000 FCFA previously).

Likewise, the new tariffs are reduced by 50% for those liable for the Single Business Tax (TPU) in the road transport sector, according to the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR).  

As a reminder, in Togo, 85% of the motor vehicle tax earnings goes to the Autonomous Road Maintenance Financing Company (SAFER).

In Togo, the ministry of trade and local consumption urged businesses that import fabrics and printed clothes in Togo to get the certification necessary to continue this activity. 

Indeed, in a recent statement, the ministry recalled the decree issued on June 20, 2020, that imposes the prerequisite to businesses importing the products concerned. This is in a context where it was found that 70% of fabrics sold in Togo are bad copies. 

Those in need of the certification can contact the directorate of domestic trade and competition for more information. 

According to some experts, the move aims at promoting transparency, tackling counterfeiting, and reducing unfair competition in this sector which has been contributing to Togo’s notoriety since the 60s.

It will cost CFA719 million to supply power to Kara’s agricultural park and all six communities living on the site. The announcement was made by Agence Togolaise d’Électrification et des Énergies Renouvelables (AT2ER), in a statement revealing the winner of the contract for electrification works. 

According to the statement issued on January 12, 2021, e-HUB - a Togolese firm- will build medium and low tension lines for the electrification project.

In an interview with Togo First, the late Essowè Batana, former interim director general of the APRODAT (agency for the promotion and development of agropoles in Togo) had said that construction of the agricultural park, dams, irrigated areas, and other production infrastructure should have begun at the end of 2020. He added that the project would reach its cruise phase in 2022. 

The project will cost CFA65 billion. More than 50% of the sum had already been mobilized at the time of the interview. 

Séna Akoda