For the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, the ministry of economy and finance is hiring firms to audit the accounts of businesses, public companies, funds, or independent institutions that benefit from state subsidies. The related tender will close on August 14, 2020. 

The audit is to check if the funds provided by the States to the aforementioned parties were used as intended. 

Firms eligible to submit their bids to the tender must be accredited by the Togolese government and must have been regularly featured on the board of the National Order of Chartered and Accredited Accountants in Togo (ONECCA-Togo). 

Séna Akoda

Works to asphalt the 30km-long national road N°17 from Katchamba (in the Kara region) to Sadori (in the Savanes region) are scheduled to commence this semester. The news was disclosed by the minister of infrastructure and transport, Zouréhatou Kassa-Traoré. 

Financed by the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD), with XOF20 billion, the project will ease traffic along the axis and open up the western side of the regions concerned. The regional bank said, as a result of the initiative, travel time on the road will be reduced by 66% while operating costs for vehicles using it will fall by at least 60%.  

In all, the project should be completed in 18 months. In its framework, public authorities have launched an international tender for construction firms willing to take on the project. 

Séna Akoda

The latest updates on the Covid-19 in Togo reflect relative stability in the contagion rate and improvements regarding recoveries. The figures were disclosed on July 15 during the weekly press conference of the national team that coordinates the response to the pandemic (CNGR). 

“Last week, from July 1 to 7, we confirmed 39 new cases and 65 recoveries. This week, from July to 14, we confirmed 42 cases and 61 recoveries, and still 15 deaths,” reported the CNGR’s head, Col. Djibril Mohaman. 

Therefore, until yesterday, the number of confirmed cases was 731, against 528 recoveries (72%). Looking at these figures, there is a stabilization in their progress. While the CNGR has expressed satisfaction regarding this development, it urged populations to follow safety measures even more rigorously to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Economy slowly reopens

The current conditions thus seem to favor the reopening of the economy and “restrictive measures are being lifted gradually.” 

For example, authorities are taking steps to reopen the airport and borders. This is after allowing primary, secondary, and tertiary schools to resume partially. 

What about religious venues? 

Meanwhile, the government is thinking of allowing a small number of religious venues to resume activities and then monitor how the leaders and worshippers will behave regarding the respect of safety measures. 

“There are around 9,000 religious venues across the country, all denominations combined. Letting all of them reopen would be challenging given the situation,”  declared Lt. Colonel Bediani Béléï, who is in charge of religion. 

“If everything is fine and the disease is stabilized, and if people understand the importance of following safety measures to contain its spread,” Béléï continued, the size of the sample of these religious venues will be gradually increased until they all resume their activities. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

On July 15, 2020, the Togolese Chamber of Trade and Industry (CCIT) launched a project to open an incubator of industrial businesses.  

The project carried out in partnership with the International Federation of Consular Chambers for Africa (FICA) aims to support Togolese SMEs and SMIs and foster local processing and products. The incubator will be situated in the Agbelouve industrial area (62 km from Lomé). 

According to Germain Meba, president of the CCIT, the project aligns with the country’s national development plan while adding: “We will make sure that industrial businesses are more innovative.” 

After the Covid-19 crisis

More importantly, the new project was designed to tackle challenges that may arise post-Covid-19. “Despite current difficulties,” the CCIT declared, “we are thinking about the situation after the Covid-19. So we must put in place mechanisms enabling businesses to better start their activities.”

The incubator in this framework should be “essential to the growth of the Togolese economy.”

Togo’s water utility, Société Togolaise des Eaux (TDE), has launched an international tender to purchase equipment it needs for expanding its infrastructure network.

Firms eligible to bid must specialize in the manufacturing and sale of equipment such as connection tools, spare parts, and water meters which the TDE seeks. 

The tender notice was issued a few days after public authorities announced a project with an estimated cost of XOF700 million aimed at improving access to water in these neighborhoods of Lomé: Bè, Nyékonakpoè, Kodjoviakopé, Kégué, and Hédzranawoé.  

Séna Akoda

Last week, the Higher authority for the prevention and fight against corruption and related offenses (HAPLUCIA) met with actors engaged in the fight against corruption. The theme of the meeting was “Fighting corruption via efficient and effective legal systems.” 

The meeting, organized on the 4th African Anti-Corruption day, was opened by Pius Agbétomey, Togo’s minister of justice. 

On the occasion, participants lauded the government’s efforts to effectively implement the Maputo pan-African convention (a treaty adopted on August 5, 2006, aimed at fostering good economic and financial governance in Africa). Also, they stressed that corruption participates greatly in the worsening of Africa’s debt and its slow economic progress. 

The minister of justice then recalled reforms initiated by Togo regarding good governance saying that over the past two decades, the country has shown commitment in implementing measures suggested in anti-corruption pan-African and international texts.

To hasten their economic recovery, post-Covid-19, West African nations should rely on their youth. The statement was made by the African Development Bank in its recent regional economic outlook for 2020. 

In the report, the institution said “West Africa’s burgeoning youth population offers a strategic workforce which can be harnessed for employment and economic growth, despite a COVID-19 pandemic that is devastating the continent and global economies.” 

The Pan-African entity added that “as a result of the pandemic, growth in the West African region, which was poised to expand by 4.0 percent in 2020, following growth of 3.6% in 2019, is now projected to contract by -2.0 percent in 2020, and could fall by as much as -4.3 percent in a worst-case scenario.” 

While it is clear that oil and tourism-dependent economies will suffer the crisis the most, with their export revenues falling, it is also the case for tax revenues whose fall will cut budgetary margins, and therefore deepen imbalances of external accounts. The latter will in turn cause public debt to soar. 

According to the AfDB, Africa could lose as much as $236.7 billion of cumulative GDP, in 2020-2021.

Investing in human capital 

To tap into the potential of the youth, the pan-African bank recommends measures aimed at improving their skills, thus developing a more competent labor force in West Africa. Also, according to the lender, West African governments should accelerate improvements in digital infrastructure, put in place incentives to encourage private investments in skills development, and ramp up public spending in education to enhance skills of the region’s labor market. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Last year, youth and female entrepreneurs won around XOF30 billion of public contracts. This is compared to 12 billion the year before - which was the first year the Togolese government made effective its decision to set aside 20% of all its contracts to this group of entrepreneurs. 

The figure was disclosed recently by the minister of youth, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé, in a Facebook live. On the same occasion, she lauded a greater consumption of made in Togo products across the country and the improvements in the quality and packaging of these products. She also noted the government’s commitment to supporting young entrepreneurs. 

Let it be recalled that from 20% initially, the quota of public contracts reserved for young and women entrepreneurs was raised to 25% in 2019. 

Séna Akoda

In the framework of the first edition of The Nest Afrique Francophone contest, Paul Harry Aithnard, regional director of Ecobank, announced the bank’s commitment to financially back 20 bankable projects identified by its relationship management team. 

The 20 projects concerned fall under the second edition of a pro-entrepreneurship investment program led by Reckya Madougou’s think tank. For the first edition of this program, 3 finalists were selected and secured the support of business angels. 

Aithnard, it should be emphasized, promised to personally coach and mentor selected entrepreneurs, helping them grow their potential. Those with projects in the digital and agricultural sectors will be favored. 

Séna Akoda