In Togo, the mining governance and development project (PDGM) backed by the World Bank, has recently sponsored a quality training at the University of Lomé.

The PDGM invested CFA700 million in the training. The latter mainly focuses on improving skills and logistics of both lecturers and students through practical works and by rehabilitating lecture halls. In addition, a bus and pick-up were provided under the sponsorship.

The announcement was made April 16, during a ceremony to launch two new bachelor degrees at the Faculty of sciences of the University of Lomé: one in mining geology and another in analytical chemistry, mining and environment option. The PDGM is part of actions to boost transparency in the mining sector. It benefits from a $15 million financing from the World Bank.

Séna Akoda

Last Friday, Togo raised XOF77 billion through a fungible Treasury bond issuance. This is almost four times the amount initially sought and represents a 385% oversubscription.

The operation is the second of the quarter and the first was as well highly oversubscribed. Investors come from all WAEMU States, with the exception of Guinea-Bissau and Niger.

Togo’s public treasury out of the amount mobilized will retain XOF22 billion, consolidating its performances from the first quarter.

Out of 180 countries, Togo is 76th on the 2019 press freedom rankings released April 18, 2018. The country thus jumped ten places in the rankings with an increase of 0.54pt in its score.

“Press offenses have been depenalized since 2004 and professional journalism organs now have a great capacity to defend the press when it is attacked,” says Reporter Sans Frontière (RSF). 

Commenting on tensions in mid-2017 spurred by socio-political conflicts and the government’s response to these, the NGO declared : “the situation has calmed down a little and the number of attacks against journalists is decreasing, drastically.”   

This year, in Togo, no journalists were killed or arrested, according to RSF’s barometer.

However, the study highlights the strong exposure of media to politics ahead of local and presidential elections respectively in 2019 and 2020.

Another issue is that State media are struggling to “provide real news serving the public,” in an industry counting 171 newspapers, 74 radio stations and 10 TV stations.

Professionalization of journalism, a real challenge to media viability

“Major challenges in the way of the future press code under evaluation is the sector’s professionalization – during protests mainly – and access to more funds to ensure the media’s economic viability ; and the protection of journalists and their sources.” The above-mentioned code, according to RSF, is a beacon of hope for the industry.

Overall, the NGO found that press freedom keeps declining in many countries and “safe” zones are getting scarce. Only 24% of the 180 nations on the index have a “good” or “relatively good” environment for press freedom, against 26% in 2018.

In Africa, no country has a “good” situation and only four have a “relatively good” one, in relation to press freedom. Togo is under the second category.

Less than a quarter (20%) of the Togolese population uses mobile internet, recent data from the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) shows. This trend is spread across the sub-region and rings a bell regarding efforts that need to be made to achieve digital inclusion.

Indeed, according to the association, in West Africa 61% of the population has no access to broadband even if the number of smartphone users is expected to double by 2025.  

In Togo, 19% of the population, adults mostly, are covered by mobile broadband but fail to access it via their smartphones. This calls for more efforts to improve infrastructures, accessibility, get content and consumers ready.

However, to achieve digital inclusion, a major challenge must be overcome; that is expanding broadband coverage, a high-cost process. Other issues are related to consumers’ demand.  

At end-2018, the West African mobile industry was officially employing 200,000 people and 800,000 informally. The sector contributed $52 billion to the region’s economy. This amount should rise to nearly $70 billion in 2023, according to GSMA.

This Friday, April 19, Togo intends to raise another XOF20 billion by issuing fungible treasury bonds on the UMOA securities market. This was announced April 17 by the regional debt planning agency.

Nominal value per unit security for the operation is a million CFA with multiple interest rates and a 12-month maturity period (364 days). Securities issued are to come into value next April 20^th.  They will be reimbursed on the first working day after maturity date and interests are payable in advance and deducted from the bonds’ nominal value.

Tomorrow’s issuance will be the second this quarter after a successful one last April 5 (oversubscribed at 386%).

Séna Akoda

Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Olympia Lyra changed its destination to Togo from Southwold, UK, Reuters reports.

The VLCC, which has a capacity of 300,000 tons, comes from Asia and should reach the port of Lomé, the only deep water port in West Africa, on April 25. It was initially expected in Britain around May 7.  

The change in course according to Reuters, could affect refining margins.

Initiated April 1, 2019, the business opinion poll will close on April 30.

The survey which is conducted by Togo’s chamber of commerce and industry (CCIT) aims at supporting the private sector by collecting opinions of business chiefs on business climate, as well as know their needs and expectations in order to orient changes in the country’s economy.

Last year, amid political tensions, the poll showed that the business operators had some concerns, driven by a drastic drop of their turnovers. The CCIT then made efforts to convince actors involved in the conflict to peacefully and jointly end it.

Séna Akoda