In the next three months, Togo plans to raise €500 million in international finance markets. This was confirmed by the country’s president himself, Faure Gnassingbé, during an interview in London.

The news comes a little after U.S ratings agency Standard & Poor’s published, for the first time ever, its short and long term credit rating for Togo’s debt in local and foreign currency. Giving the country a ‘B’ rating, the American firm commented :

“We expect economic activity will benefit from the recent upgrading of key infrastructures, such as the completion of extensive works at the port of Lomé, which is currently the only deep-water port in West Africa, and the opening of the new terminal at the Gnassingbé-Eyadema airport in 2016.”  

A Eurobond guaranteed by the World Bank?

According to Togo’s leader, monies raised (with a longer maturity) will mostly be used to serve internal debt (which has a shorter maturity) as it tends to be more costly.

Lomé mentioned it may resort to a Eurobond, a syndicated loan or a multilateral institution. However, a Eurobond is more likely as the Togolese currency, the CFA is pegged at fixed parity to the Euro which is more stable.

On another side, there is the World Bank which is said to be working, under a new Country Partnership framework, to grant Togo IDA guarantees for the operation.

Reducing pressures to refinance internal debt, a major challenge  

In 2016, Togo’s debt stood at 82% of its GDP, spurred by huge investments in infrastructures. However, in the past two years, the country, backed by a three-year IMF program started mid-2017, reduced its debt by more than 10%; A performance lauded by the Fund which now estimates the risk of external over-indebtedness to be “moderate.”   

This performance also coincides with pressures to refinance internal debt over the next five years, as well as with the recent launch of the national development which will require more than $8 billion, 65% of which will come from private sector.

Togo could become Africa’s 22nd nation to issue a Eurobond

If Togo opts for a Eurobond, it would follow the lead of Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Benin. The latter raised €500 million leveraging the bond.  

According to London-based Investment Bank Renaissance Capital, quoted by Financial Times, Togo would hence become the 22nd African nation to issue a Eurobond. 

Kuwaiti firm Agility Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) signed last Thursday in London a letter of intent to establish in Togo a logistics park. The document was inked by the firm’s managing director for Africa, Geoffrey White, and Togo’s minister of trade and private sector, Kodjo Adedze.

Under the deal, Agility is to build a logistics park in Lomé.

Though no further detail was given, the project should contribute to the first axis of Togo’s national development plan which is to make Togo a leading logistics hub and first-class business centre in the region.

A similar initiative is being carried out by State-owned Company Togo Invest and related feasibility studies are already completed.

“With its partner SOGEA SATOM, Togo Invest wants to build an area of at least 50 ha multi-purpose logistics platform as well as various other logistics installations at the exit of Lomé,” said Togo Invest on its website.

Agility is Middle East’s largest logistics firm with more than 40 brands around the world, some since the mid-1800s. It claims to be “one of the world’s largest integrated logistics providers and the largest private owner and developer of industrial real estate in the Middle East and Africa.”

“Togo should join the Commonwealth and the President even said so,” said UK deputy Andrew Rosindell after he recently met a Togolese delegation led by President Gnassingbé. The delegation is in the European capital to showcase Togo’s national development plan and secure investment for its implementation.

The African country indeed reaffirmed its will to join the multi-government organization which regroups mostly former British colonies.

Actually, the process was initiated since 2014 and re-launched in 2017. If successful, Togo will thus be the second French-speaking country to join the economic community, after Rwanda in 2009.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Over the past two decades, Togo’s score on the Global Childhood Report grew by 103 points to 679 points. In the 2019 edition of this index published by NGO Save The Children, the country occupies the 22nd position in Africa.  

The report ranks countries that defend child rights most. To this end, it assesses criteria such as nutrition, access to health and education, physical integrity, equality, access to ICT, etc. 

In West Africa, Togo did better than Benin (27^th with 631pts), Côte d’Ivoire (31st, 608pts) or Burkina Faso (44th, 565pts) but was far behind others like Ghana (763pts) and Senegal (691pts).

Worldwide, as child mortality and labor reduced over the period reviewed, Africa was the continent that recorded the highest progression on the index. Across the continent, countries where child conditions improved the most are Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Niger and Burkina Faso.

At the top of the index in Africa are Tunisia (929pts), Mauritius (919pts) and Algeria (907pts). Last is the Central African Republic according to the report.  

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

On May 31, 2019, Standard & Poor’s published its first-ever short and long term credit rating for Togo’s debts denominated in local and foreign currencies. According to the rating agency, Togo stands at B with stable outlooks for those debts.

“We expect economic activity will benefit from the recent upgrading of key infrastructures, such as the completion of extensive works at the port of Lomé, which is currently the only deep-water port in West Africa, and the opening of the new terminal at the Gnassingbé-Eyadema airport in 2016,” the agency wrote in the accompanying release.

Though the agency praises the country’s development plan (PND), it indicates that its dependence on mining and agriculture is a vulnerability factor.

“We note, however, that the authorities have started to implement economic reforms, leading the 2019 World Bank's Doing Business report to rank Togo the top reformer in Africa for business creation, building permits, electricity connection, payment of taxes, transfer of property, and execution of contracts. We expect this momentum will continue gradually in the coming years,” Standard & Poor’s continued.

 According to this agency, the average GDP Growth should be 5% in 2019-2022.

Togo’s minister of economy and finance, Sani Yaya, urged the African Solidarity Fund (ASF) and its partners to finance the 2018-2022 national development plan. This was at the opening ceremony of ASF’s 10^th general assembly.

The plan, Yaya said, “needs XOF4,622 billion in funding, two-thirds of which will be secured from the private sector. I trust that the African Solidarity Fund whose mission is to participate in the economic growth of its member States will fund key projects that fall under this plan, through its various intervention mechanisms,” he added.

“I would also like to invite the Fund’s partners, banks, financial institutions and private sector actors to leverage opportunities brought about by this plan to grow their activities,” the minister concluded.

Responding to the call, the head of the ASF, Ahmadou Abdoulaye Diallo, commented:  “We will significantly contribute to the financing of Togo’s national development plan.”

Séna Akoda