After talks of the direct transfer of the BTCI failed, Togolese public policies launched a tender similar to that of UTB's transfer. The government expects to close the lender's privatization in Q1 2020.

“This would guarantee financial stability and reduce government’s budget expenses,” says the International Monetary Fund which closely follows the process. The institution argues that “profitability could improve after privatization, that is when the government fully renounces its control, or when banks are left to strategic investors.” However, the IMF urges authorities to be transparent in the process.

The continued decline in the overall capital adequacy ratio is partly due to the large capital deficit of the two public banks. Apart from the two lenders, the overall solvency ratio of other banks that operate in the country far exceeds the level required by regulation. Their poor liquidity could also affect the entire system, the Bretton Woods Institution warned.

Togo exported 388 tons of cashew to the European Union over the past three quarters. This is a notable improvement compared to 2017 and 2018, where the country exported 118 tons and 134 tons respectively to the EU.

According to Commodafrica which reported the figures citing N'Kalo, while exports to the Old Continent are going up, those to the US have slumped by 24% over the first three quarters of 2019 (from 73t to 55t). Over the same period the year before, the fall was even more important (from 180t to 73t, thus -59%).

Overall, exports to US and the EU totaled 443t at the end of Q3 2019. India, it should be recalled remains one of Togo's largest cashew buyers.

Among West African economies that export cashew to Europe, Côte d'Ivoire leads with 1,591t over the past three quarters (+88%). Others such as Burkina Faso and Benin also recorded major increases (+113% and +259% respectively) in volumes exported to the EU over the period under review.
R.E.D

Between 2010 and 2018, Togo invested about XOF680 billion to expand and modernize its roads. Overall, more than 800 km of roads were rehabilitated or built over the period. This was revealed on November 18 at a meeting gathering the heads of ECOWAS national cells on the fund for the development and financing of the transport and energy sectors (FODETE) in West Africa.

Other major projects undertaken to boost the transport sector include the construction of a new terminal building at Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport and a third quay at the Autonomous Port of Lomé.

The meeting aimed to prepare national consultation workshops on the creation of FODETE, as well as establish a clear roadmap for its adoption and implementation by ECOWAS statutory bodies.

Séna Akoda

In the framework of the West African Coastal Area Management Program - WACA, which is financed and implemented by the World Bank, Abidjan hosted yesterday the WACAmarketplace. 

This was a meeting where Senegal, Mauritania, Sao Tome, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, and Togo gathered, to present to technical partners and potential backers, their respective projects on tackling coastal erosion and sea pollution.

For its projects, Lomé seeks around $114 million. They concern the coastal band going from Gbodjomey to Abdodrafo and the market area (in the capital).  

Let it be recalled that in 2017, coastal erosion cost $3.8 billion to Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Togo. This represented about 5% of their GDP at the time. 

R.E.D

Lomé alone concentrates 72.3% of all of Togo's spending, according to data from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). 

Apart from Lomé, Abidjan and Dakar are the only other two cities in the West African Monetary Union (WAEMU) to have concentrated more than 60% of national spending (68% and 62% respectively) in their respective countries. 

Meanwhile, in Guinea Bissau, Benin, Mali, Burkina and Niger, spending in most populated regions represent respectively 53.7%, 52.9%, 52.1%, 30.2% and 30% of overall spending for the countries. 

R.E.D