Togo First
In Togo, agriculture is still highly under-financed by banks
For the first half of 2019, the proportion of loans to agriculture by banks represented only 0.2% of the institutions' overall lending to the economy over the period. This is in a context where this sector contributes 40% of Togo's GDP and employs 60% of its population, worried Demba Tignokpa, the minister of development planning.
Banks' lending to agriculture thus is at the same level as when the MIFA was launched last year. This is far from the 5% objective set by the minister of agriculture, Noël Bataka, for 2020, leveraging the MIFA.
Overall, Togo, just like many of its neighbors, is under-financed by its banks. Indeed, bank financing represented only 40% of GDP in H1 2019.
"As revealed at our previous sessions, financings are still poorly oriented to housing and agriculture, despite the strong contribution of these sectors to the country's economic and social development," said Demba Tignokpa, last Thursday at the opening of the third national council on credit.
The official then urged banks and relevant authorities to "work to level up lending and amend financing structure for sectors enabling inclusive growth, such as housing and agriculture."
Agriculture: These are the nine most attractive sub-sectors for Togolese youth according to the World Bank
In Togo, the nine most profitable agricultural sub-sectors for the youth are pineapple, beekeeping, aquaculture, shea, sesame, soybeans, mushrooms, fonio, and vegetables.
This was revealed during a meeting that regrouped representatives of the World Bank, GIZ, NGOs, Togolese authorities and agricultural actors last Thursday. It was a workshop held to validate a preliminary study to identify sectors with a high market and job potential. The study which assessed 22 sectors overall was led by the World Bank and co-financed by GIZ. It assessed options fostering the youth's economic inclusion and ultimately aimed to improve their revenues and create new jobs.
In opposition to the above-mentioned sectors, cotton, coffee-cocoa, and cashew are the least attractive sectors for the youth. Regarding cotton, while stating that it is Togo's most exported crop, the study says harvesting it is tedious as it is mostly done manually. For coffee and cocoa which are mainly produced for export, these sectors are less attractive for the youth due to frequent fluctuations in their global prices.
The final results of this preliminary study should in addition to identifying all attractive economic sectors in the country also clearly determine key actors' needs for investment and skill development towards improving youth employment and empowerment. This is in a context where the youth represent 58% of the country's active population and also where 60% of jobs are concentrated in agriculture (which contributes 40% of Togo's GDP).
Commenting on the validation workshop, the minister of grassroots development, youth and youth employment, Victoire Tomegah Dogbé said: "The validation of this study's findings brings the opportunity to initiate a dialogue with private and public partners on the importance of better economic inclusion of youth in our various agricultural sectors."
For her part, the World Bank's representative in Togo, Hawa Cissé Wagué, declared: "Supporting profitable value chains will enhance the integration of the supply and demand of labor in the agricultural sector which holds great potential for growth and job creation in Togo."
In this regard, it should be recalled that one of the World Bank's flagship projects aimed at boosting the youth's economic inclusion is the Job Opportunity Project for Vulnerable Youth (EPV) in which the Bretton Woods institution poured XOF9 billion.
Despite the economic growth in Togo, it remains highly under-financed
In Togo, while the growth forecast had been scaled up by the IMF twice this year, the banking sector has contributed very little to this situation. This is one of the reflections that emerged from the recent 3rd national council on credit (CNC).
Further marking the paradox is the country's controlled inflation and budget deficit which meets regional standards.
Though not all gloomy, this situation raises concerns especially for the minister of development planning and cooperation, Demba Tignokpa, who said at the recent CNC: "Looking at new credit provisions, they slumped 8.1% over the first six months of this year, in comparison to the same period in 2018."
However, at end-June 2019, stocks of loans to the economy grew by 4.9% year-on-year, 4.2% at March 31, against 4.1% at the end of December 2018. Similarly, the average interest rate on bank loans reduced to 7.65% on June 30, 2019, against 8.52% at the same date the year before.
These improvements drove the ratio of lending to the economy against GDP to 40%. Regardless, Minister Tignokpa maintains, banks still barely support the economy and sectors like agriculture and housing suffer the most from the situation, only receiving "crumbs" from Togolese banks.
Togo records another successful operation on UMOA-securities market, its first issuance in Q4 2019
Last Friday, Togo successfully proceeded to its first issuance on the regional debt market for this quarter. The country which sought XOF20 billion through the operation was able to mobilize more than XOF47 billion, which represents a coverage rate of almost 237%.
However, according to the UMOA-securities agency, Togo's public treasury will retain only XOF22 billion in line with its spending plans, just like it was the case for previous issuances on this market.
Starting from the first year, from October 7, 2019, to be exact, the securities will produce an annual interest of 6.25%. They will mature on September 7, 2022 (36 months). "Reimbursement (In Fine) will be made on the first workday following the maturity date," the agency notes.
The nominal unit value for the securities was XOF10,000.
Séna Akoda
After Uganda, African Lease and Trade expands its activities to Togo
Danish lease firm, African Lease and Trade, obtained last August 16th the approval to operate in Togo.
Last Thursday, during the third national council on credit, Togo's minister of development planning and cooperation indicated that the firm is "allowed to carry out leasing, payment and factoring transactions."
Situated in Lomé, African Lease Togo is tasked with increasing Togo's leasing and factoring portfolio.
"The snowball effect of leasing on other financial products like venture-capital, factoring, and bank loans, has been acknowledged and it is thus a financial tool of choice for SMEs," the minister declared last June as the law on leasing was adopted by the parliament.
In Togo, as well as in all WAEMU countries, leasing remains weak compared to overall lending to the economy. According to data from the BCEAO, the corresponding figure was almost null in 2017. As for factoring, it is still embryonic in the country, even if some financial institutions such as Sogemef have adopted it this year.
African Lease and Trade is also active in Uganda.
Over the past five years, the proportion of Togolese having an account at a bank and similar institutions increased by 24%
From 2014 to 2019, the proportion of Togolese of more than 15 years old having an account at a bank, a microfinance institution and postal services (such as Eco CCP) soared by 24%, from 50% to 74%. This was disclosed last Thursday by Demba Tignokpa, the minister of planning, at the third session of the National Council of Credit (CNC).
The increase was spurred by dynamism in the traditional banking sector, microfinance, Eco CCP, mobile money, and mobile banking. Let's recall that in 2018, Kossi Tenou, national director of the BCEAO said, "data shows that in Togo, a little more than 2/3 of people of 15 years old and more have access to financial services."
Séna Akoda
Energy Cycle will represent Togo at the EDF Pulse Africa finals in Paris next month
At the penultimate stage of the EDF Pulse Africa Tour hosted in Lomé last Tuesday, Energy Cycle was selected to represent Togo at the finals of the EDF Pulse Africa contest.
The startup, founded by Adakpo Boutamekpo, was running against four other local startups for the position. The jury which selected Energy Cycle was composed of Astria Fataki, chairman of Energy Generation, Marc Vizy, ambassador of France to Togo, Elie Lara Santiegou, Managing Director of BBOXX with EDF, and Urbain Amoussou, founder of the incubator CUBE.
Before Togo, other nations that hosted the EDF Africa Pulse Tour this year were Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, and Côte d'Ivoire. The last country where the tour took place was Cameroon (Oct. 3). Finals for the contest will take place in Paris on November 21, 2019.
Séna Akoda
In Lomé, WHO trains experts from five African nations on ways to better assess risks related to spending on health services
The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently holding in Lomé a four-day workshop for public health officers from Benin, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, and Togo. The experts will be taught how to assess monies spent on health by populations, by using the most recent data.
In detail, participants will learn about ways to estimate indicators of financial protection in the health sectors, methodology, and techniques used to assess household expenditures on health services, by using appropriate databases and statisticsa software.
Through the workshop, the experts will better understand risks related to these spending, contain them and improve access to health services for populations.
The long-term goal here is to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which WHO set in its general program of work adopted in 2018. The global organization indeed wants a billion people to benefit from the coverage.
Around the world, about a hundred million people are plunged in poverty due to the high spending on health services, while about 800 million spend more than 10% of their revenues to access them.
Togo records the highest proportion of female inventors who applied for patents in Africa and the world, between 1998 and 2017
Worldwide, Togo recorded the highest proportion of female inventors who applied for a patent between 1998 and 2017, 57.14% exactly. This was revealed in a recent study from the UK's intellectual property office.
The study which assessed 120 countries explored gender profiles in worldwide patenting.
After Togo follows Uganda where the proportion of female inventors in patent applications stood at 44.55% over the period.
The US and the UK are far behind respectively ranked 110th and 120th with the figure standing at 10.04% and 9.44%.
While countries like Togo and Uganda have recorded such astounding performances, data shows that the overwhelming majority of patents are filed by men. Indeed, last year, female inventors were only associated with 13.07% of all global patent applications.
Séna Akoda
Togo: US embassy provides XOF35.2 million for 17 community projects, under its Self-Help Programme
The US embassy in Togo has recently granted XOF35.2 million to seventeen community groups and associations in the country. This is under its Self-Help program to encourage local populations and improve their living standards.
With the facility, these organizations will launch income-generating projects, agricultural transformation projects, acquire equipment for schools, or help the handicapped.
The related agreement was signed on October 1, 2019.
Communities seeking to benefit from the facility can apply online on the embassy's website or physically at the embassy. However, let it be noted that the maximum amount allocated to any given project is $5000 and small-budget projects have a better chance of being picked.
The Self-Help Project was launched in 1964 to assist communities in developing impacting projects.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi