Banque togolaise pour le commerce et l'industrie (BTCI) will also soon start offering services to enable taxpayers pay their taxes and duties online. The Togolese Revenue Office made the announcement this Friday, during talks on reforms initiated to improve the local business climate.

The bank will thus become OTR’s third partner in this regard, after Ecobank and more recently Union Togolaise de Banque (UTB).

The good news aligns with various steps taken by the OTR in the past months to dematerialize its processes, in order to improve business climate and ease collaboration with business owners.  

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

In 2017, Togo exported 30,265 tons of fruits and vegetables, according to the national institute of statistics, economic and demographic studies (INSEED). This volume was valued at CFA4.5 billion.

Over the same period, the country imported 8,385 tons of fruits and vegetables, valued at 1.5 billion CFA.

To date, Togo produces 60,000 tons of fruits and 40,000 tons of vegetables every year. These volumes meet only a quarter of local demand; that is if Togo consumed the products in line with standards.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo’s revenue office (OTR) signed last Tuesday a deal with Union Togolaise de Banque (UTB) to simplify and ease online payment of taxes and duties.

With this, UTB becomes the second bank to partner with OTR in the framework of e-payment’s implementation. The first bank was Ecobank transnational incorporated (ETI).

For the OTR, this partnership falls in line with its strategy to dematerialize fiscal operations. Indeed, by enabling taxpayers pay their dues online, the institution wants to save time for all involved parties.

The recent partnership should be extended to more banks in Togo.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

A delegation of the Abu Dhabi Fund should soon visit Lomé, according to the communication division of the Togolese presidency.

This visit falls under the fund’s desire to support Togo’s 2018-2022 national development plan (PND 2018-2022). It was decided during talks between President Gnassingbé and Mohamed Saïf Al Suwaidi, director of the Abu Dhabi Fund.

The talks concerned improving cooperation between Togo and the Fund, in the sectors of infrastructures and energy.

Still seeking support for the PND, the Togolese President who is currently in the United Arab Emirates met the Prince of Abu Dhabi, on March 11.

As for the Abu Dhabi Fund, let’s note, it provided a $15 million loan for the construction of a 30MW solar power plant. It also partially finances the Sokodé-Bassar road.

Séna Akoda

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

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

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, 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