Togo First
Lomé is less expensive than Cotonou, Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Lagos and Abuja according to US firm Mercer
In its 2018 cost of living survey, US firm Mercer ranked Lomé as the 134th most expensive city in the world, rising from 144th position in the previous edition.
Though it regressed in the rankings, Togo’s capital is still less expensive than most neighboring metropoles namely, Abidjan (24th most expensive city), Lagos (42nd), Accra (63rd), Abuja (99th) and Cotonou (111th)
Luanda is no more the world’s most expensive city. Falling to the sixth position, the Angolan capital was dethroned by Hong Kong. While the top of the rankings is dominated by European and Asian cities, Ndjamena, Chad’s capital, makes its way to the top 10 most expensive cities worldwide. Meanwhile Tunis, Nouakchott and Kampala remain the least expensive cities according to Mercer’s survey.
Mercer’s cost of living survey aims to help governments and international companies better evaluate wages paid to expatriates abroad, but more importantly calculate hardship allowances. Cities selected for the survey were picked based on demand for data submitted to Mercer.
The 24th Cost of Living Survey compares prices of 200 products and services, such as housing, transport, food, clothing, household items and entertainment, across 375 cities worldwide but ranked only 209 cities overall.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo: BOAD invests CFA10 billion in Kara’s agropole
The board of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) approved on June 27 a CFA10 billion financing for Kara’s agropole, a statement released on the bank’s website indicates.
The money will be used to build roads, drill boreholes, electrify 14 villages, etc.
Kara’s agropole which will require more than CFA63 billion of investments is the first of nine projects that Togo’s government plans to develop under the agropoles programme in Togo. The latter aims to boost animal and crop production, improve agricultural infrastructures and market accessibility, and also support processing segment.
Agropole development aligns with the second strategic axis of the national development plan which aims at developing agricultural processing, manufacturing and extractive industry hubs.
In the long run, the plan should help improve agricultural trade balance by 25%, help tackle food insecurity and reduce poverty rate in rural areas to 27%, by 2026.
In addition to BOAD’s financing, Togo has already secured from the African Development Bank (AfDB) a CFA15 billion commitment for this first agropole.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Emirati firm Emaar inks contract to manage 2 Février Hotel in Lomé
Emaar Hospitality Group and Kalyan Hospitality signed on June 27, in Dubaï, an agreement that makes the Emirati firm the manager of the 2 février hotel, a five-star hotel situated in Lomé. Through the move, the hotel will fall under the Address brand and hence be renamed Address Hotel 2 Février.
It is Emaar’s first hotel in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the firm’s executives, the contract is a significant milestone towards its expansion across the region. “This is a management agreement that we just officialized with Kalyan Group for 2 Février Hotel. It is operational and meets our standards. We wish to make this hotel a reference in West Africa. This strategic partnership will let us bring to the region our experience in regards to hotel management,” said Olivier Harnisch, CEO Emaar Hospitality Group.
According to him, the decision to start their sub-Saharan adventure in Togo was motivated by the country’s bright perspectives for economic and touristic growth. In this mindset, the firm is prospecting more opportunities in the country.
For his part, Ashok Gupta, CEO of Kalyan Hospitality, concessionaire of 2 février rejoiced over the new partnership. “Africa, we believe, is the continent of the future. Togo is determined to boost its tourism industry and we are glad to contribute to that vision,” Gupta said in the presence of Togolese ministers of tourism and trade, Yaovi Attigbe Ihou and Bernadette Legzim-Balouki, as well as the country’s ambassador to Gulf nations, Mohamed Ouro-Sama.
Togo: Between 2015 and 2017, poverty rate slumped by 1.6% (INSEED)
Between 2015 and 2017, Togo’s poverty index receded according to the national institute of statistics, economic and demographic studies (INSEED) in a report entitled 2017 Poverty cartography, published on June 26, 2018.
In detail, poverty rate slumped from 55.1% in 2015 to 53.5% last year.
The figures are derived from two distinct studies namely the unified questionnaire on well-being base indicators (QUIBB) and a mini-survey conducted in 2017 on 27,046 households.
Explaining why this approach was adopted, Kwame Kouassi, INSEED director general, declared: “We decided to use these two surveys because the 2015 QUIBB did not provide enough details regarding poverty at the prefectural level. With additional data collected in 2017, we were able to analyze data at district and prefectural levels in Lomé. This is to allow local communities to take adequate decisions to tackle poverty”.
A lowering trend confirmed
The decrease of Togo’s poverty rate confirms positive impact of measures initiated by the government to end extreme poverty in the country. It also reinforces a trend observed since 2011. From 2011 to 2015, poverty rate indeed slumped from 58.7% to 55.1% in 2015 and then to 53.5% in 2017.
Across the countries’ various regions, poverty rate decreased significantly with some disparities here and there however, INSEED head said. Thus, in the Savannah region, this rate decreased from 87.3% in 2011 to 65% in 2017 while falling from 76% to 59.9% over the same period in the Central region.
The new data should serve as base to monitor the implementation of the 2018-2022 national development plan, and also to help achieve SDGs, declared Essohana Edjeou, cabinet director of the ministry of planning and development.
Séna Akoda
France supports Togo towards its universal access to power goal
Togo’s efforts to achieve universal access to power by 2030 are supported by many countries and institutions.
For example, on behalf of France with whom India founded the International Solar Agency (ISA), Former French minister of ecology, Ségolène Royal, met with President Faure Gnassingbé on June 26 prior to a roundtable to discuss ways to mobilize funds to implement Togo’s new electrification strategy.
Following their meeting, Royal declared: “I congratulated the President for the power transition strategy that was implemented and thanked him for his active participation in the COP21 Climate Conference and the International Solar Alliance”.
“Togo is an exemplary member of ISA and it has one of the best projections in terms to power connection, to solar notably,” she said before adding: “The government plans to provide universal access to power by 2030. It is a very concrete project with a very operational roadmap”.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Government reveals its ambitious new electrification strategy
Togo wants to achieve 50%, 75% and 100% electrification by 2020, 2025 and 2030 respectively.
A vision backed by a new strategy that is currently being discussed with various lenders and major energy firms, at a roundtable held in Lomé. While the strategy is estimated to cost CFA1000 billion, the government wishes to initially raise CFA180 billion from potential investors. 50% of the total sum is to come from private sector.
Togo’s new electrification strategy relies on an optimal combination pairing off-grid and on-grid technologies.
To bring light to the three million people who still have no access to power in the country, the government plans to build more than 300 mini-solar plants via private-public partnerships. In addition, there is the CIZO initiative which aims to power more than 555,000 households using solar kits, by 2030.
On traditional grid, the country wants to connect 800,000 households to the infrastructure. This will be done either by connecting new areas with no access to energy or connecting people living in electrified areas but who have no access to power.
The project which is supported by the International Finance Corporation was lauded by many institutions such as the International Solar Alliance.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo hopes to raise CFA180bn at ongoing roundtable on electrification strategy
During a roundtable it is holding June 27 and 28, Togo’s government hopes to raise CFA180 billion for its electrification strategy.
This amount which is the first tranche of a 1,000 billion CFA goal to raise by 2030, will help initiate the strategy’s first phase, the demonstration phase.
This phase will begin this year and end in 2020. Under the government’s plans, it will help Togo become a regional leader in terms of energy. In detail, the first phase would enable Togo to boost its electrification rate from 40% to 50%.
The roundtable, let’s note, was organized by the ministry of mines and energy with the support of the World Bank, GIZ, and the African Company for Biofuels and Renewable Energies (SABER).
Participating in the event are major companies such as EDF Energies Nouvelles, Engie, Siemens, Green Light Planet, Mekta, Bboxx, Fenix International, Sunna Design and many other regional and local actors.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
World Bank could provide Togo $200-230 million by 2020
As part of the Eighteenth Replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA18), Togo should benefit from a greater financial support from the World Bank’s arm.
Indeed, under its new country partnership framework (CPF) with Togo, World Bank should provide the African nation between $200 million and $230 million for 2018, 2019 and 2020.
However, the funds’ disbursement depends on Togo’s CPIA indicators, with a particular focus on debt sustainability. “Like in 2017, eligibility criteria for IDA 18 donations will be determined based on the latest assessment of debt sustainability, available at the moment allocation is provided for a given year,” World Bank’s CPF states.
Actually, a technical team from the Bretton Woods institution should visit Lomé in the coming weeks to submit some recommendations to the debt management office, Togo First was told.
For now, Togo’s various ministries are drawing an action plan focused on reforms that will improve the nation’s score in the next CPIA which will be released in July.
The CPIA or Country Policy and Institutional Assessment assesses quality of policies and institutions of its member States. It helps these countries improve their political, institutional and economic governance and also helps allocate resources to the poorest members of IDA.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo: President Gnassingbé launches MIFA to boost agribusiness
Yesterday, President Faure Gnassingbé officially launched the agricultural financing incentive mechanism (MIFA) at the Centre Togolais des Expositions et Foires (Togo 2000) in Lomé.
The scheme aims to boost the performance of the agricultural sector which actually contributes 40% of Togo’s GDP. How? By helping farmers easily secure loans from banks and other financing institutions as the latter are currently reluctant to do so. MIFA, formerly TIRSAL, is based on risk-sharing.
At the moment, only 0.3% of bank loans are invested in agriculture. The MIFA aims to improve this rate to 5% and halve interest rates associated to the loans from 15% to 7.5%. This would help create thousands of direct jobs and hundreds of thousands of indirect ones by 2027.
So far, the scheme is backed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB), whose respective heads were beside President Gnassingbé at the launching ceremony; the World Bank and other technical and financial partners, said Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of economy and finance.
Séna Akoda
Togo will hold a roundtable June 27-28 to discuss ways to secure funding for its electrification strategy
With the support of International Finance Corporation (IFC), Togo’s government has adopted a national electrification plan. The initiative falls in line with the country’s goal to achieve SDG 7: providing reliable and cheap energy to all Togolese.
The initiative will require a global investment of 1,000 billion according to the Togolese minister of energy and mines, Marc Ably-Bidamon. These funds, the government plans to mobilize from various parties with 50% coming from private sector.
In fact, a roundtable with potential lenders and investors will be held next June 27-28, under the aegis of the ministry of energy and with the support of World Bank, GIZ, African Company for Biofuels and Renewable Energies (SABER).
EDF Energies Nouvelles, Engie, Siemens, Green Light Planet, Mekta, Bboxx, Fenix International and Sunna Design are the companies expected at the meeting. In addition to these international firms are some local and regional actors.
Other important figures expected at the event are Ségolène Royal, former French minister of Ecology, who represents ASI (Global Solar Alliance), and Amadou Hott, Vice-President of the African Development Bank.
The great interest shown by these parties attests to the attractiveness of Togo’s power sector, the government said.
Regarding the recently adopted strategy, it aims to develop more than 300 mini-solar plants via PPPs. An official launching ceremony will take place June 27, at Hotel 2 février, and will be presided by President Faure Gnassingbé himself.
Fiacre E. Kakpo