Togo First
Togo: 11th Notaries forum ongoing in Lomé
The eleventh edition of the notaries forum opened in Lomé, last Monday, March 12.
During the event, notaries will be updated on the new land code, their roles and responsibilities.
The three-day forum will help notaries better do their work, amid a changing regulation.
“The notaries’ forum is a real chance, an opportunity to boost skills,” Pius Agbetomey (photo), minister of justice told notaries.
For his part, David Tsolenyanu, chairman of Togo’s chamber of notaries said notaries must always “be updated to provide useful services to Togolese citizens.”
Let’s also emphasize that the notaries will have to prepare for the coming local elections this year.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo seeks CFA115 billion on regional financial market next quarter
In Q2 2019, Togo will try to raise CFA115 billion on the regional financial market. Broken down, the country’s public treasury should seek CFA40 billion as fungible treasury bonds and 75 billion as fungible treasury bills.
The figure was released in a statement issued by the West African Regional Debt Planning Agency. Provisional calendar for the fundraisings is however yet to be known.
Throughout the year, the country plans to raise on this market CFA390 billion, while the whole region eyes the sum of CFA2,778 billion. For the closing quarter, Togo raised CFA91 billion on the regional financial market.
Séna Akoda
BTCI commits CFA5 billion to MIFA
Togo’s Trade and Industry Bank (Banque togolaise pour le commerce et l’industrie – BTCI) has just committed five billion CFA to the agricultural financing promotion mechanism, MIFA. The facility, yielded after talks between the two parties involved, will support agricultural value chains in Togo.
Launched last June, the MIFA’s purpose is to encourage financial institutions to fund agriculture in the country. Over a 6-month pilot phase, the public scheme directly benefited 5,062 farmers, of which 916 are women, against an initial target of 6,000 farmers. This phase cost CFA1.082 billion.
The performances helped attract more investors, knowingly the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Indeed, last month, this institution invested CFA20 billion in the MIFA ; a sum that will be mainly used to develop the following four sectors: maize, rice, gardening and poultry. This should in parallel help create more than 40,000 jobs by 2025.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Odalys plans to expand to Togo, among others, by 2022
Odalys, Europe’s second largest tourist accommodation group, plans to set shop in Togo by 2022, in line with its expansion strategy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Besides the Togolese capital, the French group, which has already started operating in Douala, also intends to extend its footprint to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire by 2022. More than 10 projects are also being studied in markets such as Ethiopia, Senegal and Chad.
The company will eventually enter these markets via its high standing aparthotel brand, Odalys City. A move aligning with its global diversification strategy.
In 2017, Odalys’ turnover exceeded €240 million and the French company had more than 400 residences, hotels, and aparthotels over the world.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: Keras secures approval to ship 10,000t manganese ore bulk sample
AIM-listed mining firm Keras Resources has secured the approval of theTogolese government to export a 10,000 ton bulk sample of its manganese production of Nayega.
“I am delighted to announce that we have completed the bulk sample and received all the required authorisations to begin shipping for metallurgical testwork at the third-party ferromanganese smelter facility. The shipping is the final part of the bulk sampling process which has proven the robust economics of the Nayega project,” said Keras CEO, Russell Lamming.
Output from the bulk sampling, which started last August, was sent to a secure warehouse near the port of Lomé, awaiting shipment in mid-March by the end-user. The latter, whose name was kept in the dark, is a major manganese-base alloy producer, the British firm indicated. This alloy producer will, upon reception of the sample, assess its quality at their smelters. Let it also be emphasized that “the bulk sample, including equipment, operating and logistics costs as well as management fees is fully funded by the end-user.”
Keras is active on the Nayega project via its subsidiary Société Générale des Mines SARL (SGM), in which it detains an 85% stake. In West Africa, Togo especially, the firm focuses on manganese, cobalt and nickel projects.
For ECOWAS and WAEMU commissions, establishing AfCFTA could negatively impact West Africa, unless…
Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could be detrimental to West African integration if all countries in this region fail to sign and ratify the related agreement. This was a concern expressed by the heads of the ECOWAS and WAEMU commissions during the two institutions’ latest joint meeting, on March 8th 2019.
To date, only eight countries in West Africa, including Togo, have inked and ratified the document. Nigeria is one of the nations that is yet to do so, as its President abstains, waiting for talks with the local private sector to end.
Meanwhile, in Togo, deputies, journalists, and others are being sensitized about this agreement’s benefits for the country.
Let’s recall that so far, 18 countries have ratified the agreement and at least four more should join if it is to come into force.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Prefectures of Golfe and Agoè-Nyivé, in the South, adopt CFA9 billion budget for 2019
In Togo, the Golfe and Agoè-Nyivé prefectures adopted a budget of about CFA9 billion for 2019, up 0.25% compared to the past year.
This budget entails two main components which are operations and investments. The second concerns development projects in the prefectures, including construction of public buildings in townships, as well six bridges.
Let’s recall that overall, the country fixed its budget for 2019 at CFA1,461 billion.
Also, Agoè-Nyivé is one of the four new prefectures established in Togo since May 2016, under an administrative restructuring process which brought the country’s number of prefectures to 39.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo gets $15M financing from Khalifa fund for its SMEs and SMIs
Togo just signed with the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, in Abu Dhabi, a $15 million (CFA8.7 billion) financing agreement. The facility will be used to support micro, small and medium enterprises in the country.
The agreement was signed, in the United Arab Emirates, by the chairman of Khalifa Fund, Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, and Togo’s minister of economy and finance, Sani Yaya; in the presence of Abu Dhabi’s Crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Togo’s president, Faure Gnassingbé.
The Togolese leader, let’s emphasize, is currently in the UAE for a work visit. During his stay, President Gnassigbé will meet various political figures and visit facilities such Abu Dhabi Global Financial and the Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD).
WAMU States to study adoption of a uniform act on factoring across the regional community
Next Wednesday, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) will hold a regional meeting on the uniform act on factoring across State members of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU).
Factoring is a form of financing that helps companies with cash flow problems due to slow-paying clients. It allows a company sell its debt or invoices to a specialized entity or factor at a discount. The factor hence handles client payments, follow-up, debt collection, and eventually supports non-payment risks.
The upcoming meeting falls in line with actions taken by the WAMU to develop various tools to finance economic activities, and SMEs in particular, the BCEAO said.
Participants are expected to assess the uniform act’s pertinence and coherence as well as think of a way to extend factoring to lending institutions. Representatives of ministries of finance, WAMU’s lending institutions, BCEAO’s partners and representatives of BOAD and OHADA are expected at the event.
Séna Akoda
AfDB and FAO grant Togo a million dollars to fight fall armyworm invasion
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) granted Togo a million dollars to better fight the fall armyworm invasion to which it is presently exposed.
“Togo, like many African nations suffers an invasion of fall armyworm,” says George Bohoussou, acting country head of AfDB in Togo. Statistics show that during the 2018-19 agricultural campaign, 53% of maize fields (160,581.5 hectares) were under the insect’s attack.
However, many efforts were made to mitigate the invasion’s consequences. For example, “since 2017, the government spent more than 177 million CFA to purchase insecticides, phytosanitary treatment equipment and protection equipment which were distributed freely to the invasion’s victims.” This was declared by Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of economy and finance.
The loan now provided by AfDB and FAO will help support these efforts. It comes in a context where the “State needs $3,2M or nearly CFA1.9 billion for its five-year strategy to fight the pest,” the minister said.
This plague could destroy 13.5 million metric tons of maize across 14 African countries, thus more than 20% of their total output.