Togolese government expects private investors to provide CFA20 billion to develop Kara’s agropole. This was disclosed April 3, 2018 by the minister of agriculture on the sidelines of the open days for exchange and promotion of this project.

This amount is about a third of what the project is to cost, knowingly 60 billion CFA.

According to various sources, the government and African Development Bank (AfDB) will both provide the remaining sum. However, details were not given concerning the respective sizes of their investments.

The creation of this agropole which will be the first of many, mainly involves developing hydro-agricultural infrastructures, valorizing arable lands and establishing agro-processing facilities.

This will help boost agricultural output of benefiting areas. Among sectors to be impacted by this major project, there are rice, maize, soybeans, cashew, sesame, poultry and fishery.

Cost of credits from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) to Togo has risen by 54 basis points from 8.2% at the end of December 2017 to 8.74% at the end of January 2018. In January, apart from the private individuals segment where this figure slumped by 22 basis points, average rates for consumer credit increased. This was disclosed in the Central Bank’s monthly report for January.

A significant rise was recorded with loans granted to the State and related organizations. Indeed, from 6.44% in December, rates imposed by banks on these loans rose to 10% in January. This could explain why the banking sector decided to reduce its exposure which mainly results from the pre-financing mechanism used by Lomé to support the massive investment it made over the past few years in the infrastructure sector.

Besides banking loans, rates on bonds have also soared since the beginning of the year. Recently, Togo successfully issued a bond at a rate of 6.5% per coupon. Yet, data shows that State companies keep buying loans at relatively affordable rates (7.75%), even if these rates rose slightly over the period reviewed (+1%).

Besides the State, rates imposed to private companies also rose, nearing a two-digit figure, while traditional guarantees remain reasonable. Interest rates imposed by Togolese lenders to these structures currently stand at 10.07%, thus the highest rates in the whole country, up from 9.54% at the end of January 2018.

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Spurred by activities at the Port of Lomé, which is West Africa’s only deep water port, Togo’s maritime connectivity index improved significantly. In fact, the nation is in Sub-Saharan Africa, the second best, after South Africa, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In Africa, Togo is fourth on the index. It comes after Morocco, Egypt and South Africa.

According to UNCTAD, Togo’s performance has more than doubled in less than a decade.  Indeed, the index which was at 14.2 in 2010 soared to 33.9 in 2017, against 37.4 for South Africa.

Though it presents nips at the heels of SA, Togo could very well beat the rainbow nation by 2020, looking at Africa’s second largest economy’s progression on the index. Truly, the country’s index slumped from 43 in 2013 to 37.4 last year.

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World’s seventh largest economy, India, plans to open in Togo an embassy by 2021, to increase its diplomatic influence. Besides Togo’s, 17 other similar institutions are planned over the period. Other countries concerned include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sao Tomé & Principles, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Swaziland.

India, which should according to forecasts, become the fifth largest economy this year, beating France and UK, is looking for new outlets.

This is why it is showing more interest in Africa which has a great potential for resources and significant demographic growth rate. In fact, the continent could have the world’s largest population in a few decades.

New Delhi’s current objective is to “boost economic cooperation between India and Africa, and strengthen ties with Indian diaspora living in Africa”. Moreover, the country wants to catch up on China which is many steps ahead in Africa, by leveraging on its private sector.

India, which is the world’s second most populated country, with 2.5 million natives living in Africa, presently has 29 embassies across this continent.

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In Togo, tax earnings stood at CFA563.2 billion at the end of the 2017 fiscal year, according to a report on the performance of the public finances’ reform plan.

This is CFA5.3 billion less than in 2016 (568.5 billion) and more than 50 billion less than projections for 2017. Indeed, Togolese authorities had expected to collect 614 billion over the period.

The decrease is mainly attributed to the recurring political tensions experienced last semester.

In detail, tax and customs offices respectively collected 291.9 billion and 271.3 billion CFA. As for non-fiscal revenues, they were at 55.6 billion, thus higher than in 2016.

This year, Togo’s revenue office (OTR) eyes a global revenue of CFA660 billion which will be injected in the national expenditures budget that should exceed FCFA925 billion.

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