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 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

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

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

Togolese deputies adopted June 22 the 2018 amending finance law. “The amending finance law translates the government’s will to improve its public finances,” declared Togo’s minister of finance, Sani Yaya.

In detail, forecast for tax revenues under the 2018 budget was scaled down from CFA660.3 billion to 616.6 billion. As a result overall projected budget revenues were lowered by 21 billion (from CFA853 billion to 832 billion).

Meanwhile, budget expenditures were slashed by 5 billion standing at 920.5 billion. This considered, budget deficit stands at CFA88.6 billion. According to M. Yaya, the gap will be funded with surplus cash flow which rose by CFA10 billion.

Overall budget putting spending and income together now stands at 1,307.6 billion against 1,318.5 billion earlier. As for State budget integrating special treasury accounts, it is valued at 1,310.9 billion.

The budget revision which aligns with the International Monetary Fund’s projections was spurred by a drop in tax revenues. A drop which the minister of finance attributes to a “troubled sociopolitical environment, marked by protests and vandalism”. According to him, these had a “really negative impact on economic activity, subsequently impairing mobilization of internal resources”.

Sani Yaya further indicated that this situation dealt a great blow to Togo’s reputation driving foreign investors away in a context where the government wishes for private sector to be the country’s main investor.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

The European Commission got approval and instructions from its council last Friday to start talks regarding a new partnership with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP). This was tweeted by the institution’s representation in Togo.

The greenlight comes three weeks after the 107th session of the ACP ministers’ council and the 43rd session of the ACP-EU ministers’ council in Lomé.

Togo on the occasion had been appointed by other participating nations to head the ACP ministers’ council, which will negotiate the new partnership agreement in Brussels.

Signed in 2000, the actual agreement (the Cotonou Agreement) expires in February 2020 and plans for the start of talks for a new partnership by the end of August 2018.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Last Friday, Togo’s parliament adopted the law amending the n°2016-005 law of March 14, 2016, regarding regulation of credit information offices (BIC).

BIC’s role is to gather data from financial institutions, public entities and large utilities such as the power and water utilities as well as phone companies. The data looks at credit and payment histories of customers, to draw solvability reports which are used during lending processes.  

Under the amendment, a fifth subparagraph was added to the previous text’s article 57. The measure stated under the subparagraph aims at enabling previously mentioned institutions to share with BIC, data on customer history from before the law was passed.

The new measure will help boost Togo’s presence on the data-sharing platform where it is currently poorly represented. “Passing the law will help enrich BIC’s database and subsequently lead to the improvement of our country’s ratings in terms of business climate,” Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of economy and finance, told the parliament.   

According to the official, BIC is a precious tool which will have “positive impact on business climate, as it will boost access to loans, via the implementation of an efficient instrument to analyze, assess and manage related risks”.

Yaya believes sharing data on loans will help prevent debtors from being over-indebted and enable relevant entities to take appropriate decisions when it comes to providing loans to customers. This would obviously allow lenders and large utilities to improve the quality of their portfolios and financial health.

Fiacre E. Kakpo