CFA28 billion. That is the amount raised by Togo for its treasury bills issuance on the regional market last Friday.

Considering that the country initially aimed to raise CFA20 billion, the final proceeds are up by CFA8 billion, representing an oversubscription rate of 139%. However, as planned initially, CFA20 billion will be spent on the 2019 budget.

Overall, 34 subscriptions from all WAEMU countries, excluding Niger and Guinea Bissau, were recorded. Value date for the securities is set on February 11, 2019, and date of maturity is February 11, 2022.

This operation, in terms of yield, is the second of its kind this year, after that of January 25. Repayment will take place in fine, the first day after the maturity date, according to UMOA-TITRES agency.

Next February 22, Togo should carry out another securities issuance on the regional market.

Last Thursday, Togo’s Revenue Office (OTR) carried out a meeting with the country’s notaries to get them acquainted with the new general tax code of fiscal procedures in force.

The new code includes new initiatives such as a single land desk, a single land transfer fee set at CFA35,000, new modalities for property transfers, among others. These innovations, according to the tax commissioner, Adoyi Esso-Wavana, “profit the people, applicants, and most importantly youths interested in starting a business”.

Taking land for example, the tax commissioner indicated that under the best conditions and with respect to the government’s instructions, the new measures should allow an applicant to get a land title within six months.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo and Ghana plan on collaborating to define a framework to use a spectrum of telecom frequencies at their common border.

Since last Thursday, a delegation from the Togolese telecommunications and post regulatory authority (ARTP) has been in Ghana to meet with officials of the National Communications Authority of Ghana (NCA).

This meeting aims at overcoming issues related to interferences in the radio spectrum along the Togo-Ghana border. This would help resolve problems like accidental roaming which generates additional costs for users living in the area.

Ghanaian operators, let’s recall, are losing users living near the border to Togolese operators, as network signal of the latter appears to be stronger in the area.

At the meeting, besides the two regulators, telecom services providers from both nations were also present.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo’s mechanism promoting agricultural financing (MIFA) will, starting this year, focus primarily on the sectors of corn, rice, vegetables and poultry production.

This was revealed last Thursday, on the sidelines of a ceremony for the signing of a financing convention for the mechanism, between Togo and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

On this occasion, Togo was represented by its ministers of finance and agriculture, respectively Sani Yaya and Noel Koutéra Bataka. The IFAD was for its part represented by its regional director for West and Central Africa, Martin Lisandro.

The IFAD’s financing “will first focus on structuring” the four key sectors mentionned above, says Martin Lisandro. These sectors, according to him, have a “great potential in terms of job creation for women and youths, wealth creation, improvement of food safety and nutrition, in addition to contributing to adaptation to climate change”.

In this regard, Togo’s minister of economy and finance added that the MIFA would “cover all regions of the country”, both in the four sectors concerned and others, such as sesame and cassava.

Let’s recall that the pilot stage of the scheme lasted six months and produced encouraging results, according to authorities. Hence, the MIFA has been institutionalized to get more results.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Mechanism Promoting Agricultural Financing (MIFA) in Togo is now a public limited company. This was revealed February 7, 2019, following a council of ministers held the same day.

MIFA’s new structure is based on a private-public partnership and should better meet expectations of agricultural actors and its partners.

Refering to the decree making the MIFA a PLC, the council of ministers declared: “The present decree confirms the creation of an appropriate framework, promoting investment in the private sector”.

This decision comes a few weeks after a work session between the MIFA’s coordination team and the BOAD. On this occasion, the regional bank had agreed in principle to support the scheme.

Séna Akoda  

Togo wants to reinforce regulations relating to land transfers from citizens to foreigners. Related leases will be extended for a period of more than nine years.

These decisions are found in the second decree assessed during the recent council of ministers held last Wednesday.

In effect, “transfers of property and constitution of property rights regarding a building located in the country, involving a Togolese citizen and a foreigner”, are subject to prior approval by relevant authorities.  

The recent measures aligns with many others implemented by the government in the recent years to improve its land environment. These measures actually helped the country slightly reduce “time needed to transfer a property”, according to the 2019 Doing Business. They also helped boost “transparency by making data related to cadastral plans and land property free of access.”  

Since the beginning of 2019, other reforms initiated include setting a tariff of CFA35,000 for property transfer operations ; combining inherent procedures to shorten delays ; putting in place a platform for submission of complaints, etc.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Yesterday, the Justice Support Programme was reviewed during the third meeting of its Steering Committee.

In detail, the program’s four axes of intervention were reviewed. These include the reinforcement of justice’s regulation framework, improving access to law and justice for the people, reinforcement of framework relating to fight against corruption and illicit enrichment. Last is the improvement of framework for cooperation between justice and police, leading to efficient processing of legal cases.

Regarding the axis relating to the justice’s regulation framework, workshops were organized to boost skills of the various actors of justice. One of these workshops focused on bettering the management of jurisdictions and training justice actors on the program budget.

Concerning the improvement of access to law and justice, a sensitization campaign about litigants’ rights and responsibilities and magistrate’s ethics and deontology was launched by the Higher Council of the Judiciary (CSM). 

For the fight against corruption and illicit enrichment, control bodies were reinforced, both in terms of training as well as in regards to rolling and IT equipment.

Last, about the cooperation between justice and the judicial police, the work group including magistrates and police officers has standardized detention registries to the Luanda Guidelines. The latter aim at improving the treatment of persons subjected to arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention to ensure that the treatment complies with the relevant international norms.

Séna Akoda

In 2017, Togo exported CFA88.579 billion of agricultural products, up 29.9% compared to the previous year (CFA68.173 billion). This was revealed in the balance of payments and global external position of Togo released by the BCEAO.

The surge was mainly driven by a 39.9% rise in cotton fiber exports, as well as of other agricultural commodities and vegetal food products.

In detail, Togo exported CFA30.224 billion of cotton fiber in 2016, and CFA42.281 billion in 2017. Under the “other agricultural commodities”  category, the country’s exports from 2016 to 2017, soared by 187%, from CFA1.641 billion to CFA4.711 billion.

The same trend was recorded for the exports of vegetal food products, over the same period.

In opposition, coffee and cocoa exports generated far less revenues, over the same period, as a result of unfavorable weather conditions, lower outputs and exports.

Séna Akoda