The government just took a step further in the privatization of its last two banks, UTB and BTCI. 

The authorities have announced a tender to pre-select investors interested in the privatization of both lenders, according to an official document obtained by Togo First.

In effect, the Togolese government seeks "strategic investors with strong banking and financial capabilities to which it will cede its stake and/or open up the majority of the two banks' capital."

Applicants' selection will occur in two stages, through a call for proposals. Only pre-selected applicants will have the opportunity to participate in the final selection procedure. 

Submission of proposals closes on November 22, 2019. 

With respective total balance sheets of XOF198 billion and XOF281 billion, at December 31, 2018, the BTCI and UTB are among Togo's five major banks. In 2017, while BTCI's profits neared XOF20 billion, UTB's losses were about the same amount. 

On Sept. 26, experts, delegates and deputies from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, and Togo regrouped in Lomé for a workshop organised by Togo's minister of mining and energy, Marc Ably-Bidamon, who also is the president of the ministers' committee in charge of the West African Gas Pipeline project. 

These various actors discussed the law regulating the operation of the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO). 

The recent gathering "aimed first at appropriating realities of the West African gas pipeline, after eight years of operation," said the Togolese minister. Actors must agree on changes that time and experience have made necessary, he further indicated. 

Experts present thus looked at proposals to amend the WAPCO regulation and will submit these proposals to parliaments of various countries concerned by the project. 

Launched at the beginning of this decade, the WAPCO was expected to provide up to 13.45 million cubic meters of gas per day to Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria. However, effective functioning of the pipeline was impaired by treasury issues and debts vis-à-vis some partnering countries. 

Let's recall that the current talks take place in a context where Nigeria has closed its borders with Benin, hence impacting others like Ghana and Togo. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

"Without a strong involvement of control organs, the national development plan cannot be truly achieved." This was declared by Kossi Tofio, cabinet director of the ministry of finance at the 3rd Internal Audit National Forum launched yesterday. 

The official who was representing the minister of finance at the event was emphasizing on the importance of internal auditors in building an economy. "The contribution of internal audit to institutional performance does not need to be demonstrated anymore. It helps in value creation by assessing and improving governance processes, as well as risk and control management," Tofio added.

Over the past years, Togo has implemented multiple reforms to improve public finance control and "reinforce the institutional and operational capacities of various monitoring bodies by ensuring they respect international standards."

Progressively, the country is introducing risk-based audits in public administration. 

At the moment, State entities are elaborating, in collaboration with audit bodies, risk maps in line with this process. 

Séna Akoda

In 2018, Togo's hospitality sector generated XOF48 billion and 8,000 direct jobs. This was disclosed by the minister of tourism, Kossivi Egbetonyo. 

In that year 712,000 more tourists arrived in the country, "making Togo, a touristic destination in full rebirth in West Africa," said the minister on the 40th World Tourism Day. Compared to 2017, there were 145,236 more tourists last year, translating to a revenue increase of nearly XOF3.3 billion. 

According to Egbetonyo, this shows that tourism can greatly contribute to the economy. Let's note the country aims at a 7% growth for this sector by 2022.  

Also, over the period reviewed, tourism, across the whole continent faired well, generating $38.5 billion of revenues and receiving 67 million tourists. 

Séna Akoda

Currently in New York for the UN 74th assembly general, President Gnassingbé met on September 25 with the World Bank's Vice President for Africa, Hafez Ghanem. 

The two men mostly discussed about the World Bank's support to development initiatives in Togo and new cooperation opportunities, in the digital sector especially. 

"I had the opportunity to talk with the Head of State about Togo's priorities in its partnership with the World Bank," said Hafez Ghanem after the meeting. Talks revolved on "how the institution will keep supporting the government's efforts to spur the country's growth."

Before that meeting, another between Togo's Prime Minister Komi Klassou and Hawa Cissé Wagué, World Bank's Resident-Representative in Togo, took place. On this occasion, the institution's representative reiterated its support to Togo's national development plan. 

Let's recall that the World Bank has invested so far nearly $400 million in Togo. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togolese authorities are elaborating a project to make coastal communities more resilient to climate change. Financing for the project, $8.9 million, comes from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It will be executed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

On September 25, 2019, some climate change experts and representatives of the coastal communities met to agree on technical and institutional aspects of the project. 

Besides making coastal communities more resilient to climate change, erosion and land degradation (by improving upon productivity and sustainability of agriculture, forestry, and fishery), the project should also help boost means of subsistence in these communities. Commenting on the initiative, the programme's chief at FAO-Togo, Djiwa Oyétoundé, declared: "Under the project, we'll work with communities to help them integrate global warming challenges in their planning and budgeting." 

Moreover, the initiative will lean on the decentralization process that is currently going on in the country. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

President Faure Gnassingbé is currently in New York where he is attending the 74th UN general assembly. 

During the 10-day meeting, leaders of the world will discuss ways to "reinforce multilateral efforts fostering the eradication of poverty, quality education, climate action, and inclusion." 

The Togolese leader, according to an official statement will meet various eminent figures to talk about key cooperation and development issues. 

Mainly, these meetings aim to get more partners to invest in Togo's national development plan, just like it was the case for meetings that President Gnassingbé had with the Japanese some weeks ago at the TICAD7.

Let it be noted that the Togolese Head of State was a guest of honor at the launch of the Africa Center digital platform in New York last Monday. This was on the occasion of the Africa Future Forum where the president shared the panel with important figures such as Aliko Dangoté, Mo Ibrahim, Bill Gates and the Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo Ado. 

The World Bank's resident representative, Hawa Cissé Wagué, recently met with Togo's Prime Minister to present him with the review of the institution's portfolio in the country. 

"Our execution rate in the past twelve months was good," the Bretton Woods representative said. 

One of the objectives of the World Bank is to help Togo raise this rate to better tap into resources it is provided with. To this end, "the Bank hopes to continue working with the various ministries and the prime minister's office."

So far, the Bank has at least 16 projects ongoing in Togo, equating to an investment of about $400 million. These projects cover various domains ranging from education, health, governance, energy, telecoms, and grassroots development. 

The institution's priorities in the country align with those set in the 2018-2022 national development plan. The most important of these priorities is to support the government's reform plan to attract more private investments. 

The World Bank, it should be emphasized, is Togo's leading provider of official development aid (28% of total ODA the country received in 2018).

Mauritius, Benin, Rwanda, Guinea Bissau, and Togo are the five most open countries in Africa, in terms of mobility and free movement. This was disclosed in a report recently released by e-commerce platform Jumia. 

The pan-African startup bases its ranking on the visa openness index published by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in its third Hospitality Report Africa. 

The index is calculated by assessing the percentage of people affected by the absence of visa requirement, visa on arrival, e-visa and traditional visa. 

Togo's openness index is 71.4 which enables the country to rapidly increase the number of international tourist arrivals. 

Jumia, looking at the various figures, urges African governments to suppress visa requirement for fellow African citizens. Also, these governments should, according to the startup, work with the private sector to "launch campaigns to promote their local travel destinations and touristic offers to attract more regional tourists," said Estelle Verdier, Jumia’s Travel Manager.  

In 2018, travel and tourism were among the main forces that drove the growth of African economies. They contributed to 8.5% of their GDP, generating $194.2 billion. According to the 2019 Hospitality Africa Report, Africa is the second most dynamic continent, in terms of hospitality. The sector recorded, according to the document, a growth of 5.6% (against a global average increase of 3.9%). It comes behind the Asia-Pacific region. The number of international tourists who flocked to the African continent over the period reviewed was 67 million (+7%), spending there $58.5 billion (9.6%) of total exports.