Togo First
Property transfer : Number of submissions grow significantly while processing period reduces to 6 days
From 10 days, a year before, delay needed for property transfer in Togo at the end of May 2019 was six days. The figure was recently published by the land conservation agency.
Another major feat is that the number of cases processed last May was 40, against only 16 the same month in 2018.
This is attributed to multiple incentives put in place in the beginning of 2018 and augmented this year. The change has in effect propelled the number of property transfers, since January 2019, to more than 60 per month (60 in January and February, 66 in March, 65 in April, and 40 in May).
This year, the Togolese government initiated new reforms adding to others it created last year. This pushed up the country’s score and rankings on the Doing Business under the Property Transfer index.
Some of the new reforms include combining land conservation procedures, which enabled speeding up processes, and reducing registration and transfer fees to XOF35,000. A new tariff grid for notaries for property transfers was also created. To these were added, reforms for business creation, power connection, resolution of commercial and fiscal conflicts. These reforms improved Togo’s business environment and revamped economic activity in the second half of 2018, throughout this year, after slowing in 2017.
IFC’s Vice President Sérgio Pimenta is currently in Togo
Sérgio Pimenta, Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is currently in Togo for a working visit. “The purpose of my visit to Togo is to see how we can expand our operations and support the Togolese private sector to contribute to national development, by creating jobs, economic activities and positively impacting the country,” he declared after meeting with Togo’s Prime Minister, Komi Sélom Klassou.
Pimenta is with Jean-Claude Tchatchouang, Managing Director of IFC Africa. This visit aligns with Togo’s 2018-2022 national development which aims at creating jobs, support private sector, etc.
More precisely, Togo’s economy is currently being structurally transformed and needs in this framework XOF4,622 billion. Nearly XOF3000 billion of this amount is expected from the private sector.
Séna Akoda
Togo : Majorel Contact Centre plans to create 500 jobs by 2021
On Monday, the Majorel contact centre was inaugurated in Lomé. On this occasion, the firm’s subsidiary released a press communiqué saying it intends to create 500 medium term jobs (by 2021).
So far, the joint-venture between German Bertelsmann and Moroccan Saham has about 150 employees. However, by the end of the year it expects to raise the staff to 300 employees, leveraging good human resources in Togo.
“Togo offers quality human resources, top-class infrastructres and a proximity to many clients already settled in the country,” says Imane Benaziz (photo), Chief of Operations of the Group in Sub-Saharan Africa.
While the opening of the Majorel centre first results from the group’s expansion strategy, it also aligns with the first axis of Togo’s national development plan (PND 2018-2022). The latter consists in making Lomé a first-class business centre and a reference in the region.
While aiming to create 500 medium term jobs through the new centre’s launch, the move will contribute to a greater goal of the country to create 500,000 jobs by 2022.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Local startup New Road Company reveals its made in Togo chocolate drink, Choco Noor
Last week, Togolese startup New Road Company revealed its chocolate drink, Choco Noor.
According to the firm’s Managing Director, Adoyi A. Bimon-Isso, the drink’s production aligns with Togo’s national development plan (PND 2018-2022), which is to make Made in Togo products.
Indeed, the startup uses locally grown cocoa to make the beverage. The latter, according to executives of New Road Company, meets all standards set by the Togolese Institute for Agricultural Research (ITRA) and the National Hygiene Institute (INH).
This was confirmed by Martin Aziato, Head of Food Technology at ITRA, and Dikeni Kondi Ousmane from INH.
Aziato on the same occasion deplored the low level of cocoa processing despite the beans being produced in quantity and quality across the African continent. He therefore lauded New Road Company’s initiative and urged Togolese to follow its example.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Decision to issue Eurobond nearing
Togo should, if everything goes according to plans, raise €500 million through a Eurobond before the end of this quarter. The government indeed supposedly picked this option over a commercial loan.
Lomé plans to use these funds to clear part of its internal debt. Maturity period for the bond should exceed seven years.
According to sources close to the case, a Togolese delegation is expected in London in the coming weeks. On this occasion, the delegation will meet international institutional investors and study the market, ahead of a potential roadshow. It should be recalled that Ecobank’s top executives proceeded with a similar visit last month, accompanied by some Togolese officials.
Ecobank has, it must be noted, successfully raised €500 million on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). An experience which comforts Lomé in its intent to issue a Eurobond as well. Other reasons that spur the country’s confidence regarding the operation include the IMF’s praise for its efforts to improve public finances, reflected by a dropping public debt, and its first-ever sovereign ratings from US ratings agency S&P.
Between 2012 and 2018, African States raised $87.4 billion through 77 Eurobond issuances. In 2018 alone, around 25 issuances occurred. Among countries which issued the bonds are Egypt, Gabon, Congo, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
This year, Benin, which has the same ratings (S&P) as Togo, raised €500 million through Eurobonds.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo : ProMifa has been officially launched
Last Friday, the Mifa support project (ProMifa) was officially launched in Lomé by the minister of agriculture, Noël Bataka (photo).
ProMifa is co-financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Togolese government, private sector and its beneficiaries themselves. A total of $35 million (XOF20.24 billion) was mobilized for the project which is to last six years.
According to Aristide Agbossoumonde, Director General of Mifa, ProMifa aims at “providing organized and dynamic actors of the agricultural chains of value, sustainable access to market and both financial and non-financial services.”
In effect, the project will focus on three axes: first, it will provide technical support for agro-pastoral development and access to the market; the second relates to financial support and last is support for the project’s management and coordination.
Overall, ProMifa is to directly benefit 300,000 beneficiaries from rural exploitation areas, professional associations and small enterprises. Women and children will get particular attention under the project, said Martin Lisandro, IFAD’s director for West and Central Africa.
“This launch is a major step for relations between Togo and IFAD and it paves the way for a more efficient, flexible and durable partnership,” he added.
Let’s recall that agriculture currently contributes 40% of Togo’s national GDP.
Octave A. Bruce
Togo will seek XOF115 billion on WAEMU securities market this quarter
For the first quarter of this second half of 2019, Togo will seek XOF115 billion on the UMOA securities market.
The funds will be raised through six issuances of fungible treasury bonds and bills.
In effect, there will be four issuances of fungible treasury bonds and two of fungible treasury bills. The first is scheduled for July 12 and 26, August 9 and September 6. For the fungible treasury bills, the country will proceed to their issuance on August 23. The date for the second operation of this type is yet to be disclosed; however, it was revealed that a sum of XOF15 billion will be sought in this process, while all other five will aim at raising XOF20 billion.
The amount sought by the country represents 18% of the XOF616 billion targeted by all WAEMU States on the regional financial market this quarter.
Séna Akoda
FAO boosts food security in Northern Togo
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will spend XOF41.4 million in Northern Togo, the Savanes region precisely, to improve food security in the area.
The institution’s representation in the country indeed signed last Friday a memorandum of understanding in this framework with the ministry of agriculture, the Red Cross, the national agency for civil protection and the Technical Support and Council Institute (ICAT).
FAO’s provision falls under a project to “boost resilience of households affected by floods in the Savanes region,” and part of the funds will thus help these people cope with the phenomenon.
In detail, food supplies will be distributed to 900 people, technical trainings in agriculture will be offered, savings and loans associations in villages will be established as well as community listening clubs.
Togo: Loans to the economy on the rise, while related cost and public debt slumps
On July 4, 2019, Minister of finance, Sani Yaya, confirmed IMF’s recent forecast for the Togolese economy this year. This was during the second roundtable of the national credit council (CNC) in 2019.
“Looking at available data, economic growth should reach 5.1% in 2019, after standing at 4.9% in 2018 and 4.4% in 2017. This growth would be spurred by growth in all sectors of activities, the tertiary in particular, amid controlled macroeconomic balances,” Yaya declared.
He then lauded better financing conditions which probably contributed to an increase in loans to the economy (38% of GDP at the end of March 2019, the highest within the WAEMU), even if they are still insufficient compared to investment needs.
“At March 31, 2019, loans to the economy rose, driven by intermediation activities of banks and decentralized finance systems,” the official said before adding: “Also, cost of lending by banks slumped. Weighted average interest rate on loans provided by banks was 7.80% at this date, against 8.31% a year early.”
Similarly, public debt which for long was a bottleneck for public investment also reduced to 67.5% (against a standard of 70% in WAEMU) as the government paid part of its arrears and musters efforts to improve public finances.
For Sani Yaya, “the decrease should continue, with a controlled public deficit.” A projection he “correlates with more rationalized public expenses and greater tax income.” In these conditions, inflation should remain weak, standing at 1.7% in 2019, against 0.9% in 2018.
Togo : BCEAO confirms surplus balance of payments in 2017
The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) organized last week the ninth day dedicated to the diffusion of Togo’s external accounts results for 2017.
According to the apex bank, the country’s balance of payments that year was in surplus, just like in 2016, with respective amounts of XOF10.113 million and XOF67.15 million.
External trade of Togo also recorded a surplus of XOF85.315 million.
Meanwhile, a program backed by the IMF’s extended credit facility over the 2017-2019 period was launched. Paired with this, reforms and projects to improve roads were initiated.
Besides Togo, within the West African Economic and Monetary Union, trade balance was in surplus in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal as well.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi