After its successful bond issuance on WAEMU’ financial market (oversubscribed at 107%), last Jan. 26, Togo will re-attempt the operation to raise CFA20 billion.

Par value is CFA1 million which should be paid after 12 months. Togo’s treasury plan to issue the fungible bonds at many rates.

Looking at the similarity between the upcoming operation and the one carried out on January 12, 2018, that is the year’s first issuance, undersubscribed, the move seems risky. However, investors should respond well to it. A projection that is attributed to the many reforms initiated by government and positive short and mid-term outlooks from institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and AfDB.  

Moreover, given that the country is the only one in West Africa, to have deep-water port, expects Afreximbank’s support to boost its trade. To this add Coface’s positive predictions. The insurer indeed projected that this year, Togo’s public debt would remain below 70%.

However, political tensions are threatening these expectations. In fact, a dialogue is to be held on February 15, 2018, to calm the tension. This meeting, which will occur a day before the issuance, may or may not favor the operation.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Traffic at the Autonomous Port of Lomé (PAL) rose by 59.5% year-on-year, at Q3 2017. This was revealed in a sectoral report for this quarter released last Thursday by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

From July to September 2017, port traffic reached about 6 million tons (5,751,600 tons),which is a 9.9% increment compared to the previous quarter.

Over the first nine months of last year, total traffic at the port was 14,689,000 tons as against 10,542,100 tons the year before over the same period (+39.3%).

In detail, the volume of cargo unloaded at the port throughout the first three quarters of 2017 rose by 12.9% compared to the same period in 2016.

This reflects an increase in imports of oil products, food products, construction materials, and other goods transiting to other countries, such as Nigeria (+181%), Ghana (+44%), Mali (+37%) and Niger (+31%). However, Burkina Faso, with 10.714 million tons of discharged goods at PAL, was the country that captured most of the port’s traffic from January to September 2017.

In regards to loading over the first nine months of 2017, volumes of exported goods stood at 901,900 tons as against 752,800 tons in 2016’s first nine months. Thus, a 19.8% increment, a rise spurred by a 22% increase of goods coming from Burkina Faso. Over the same period, agricultural product exports stood at 246,400 tons representing a 4.8% rise.

It is however important to note that during the first nine months of 2017, 1,022 ships docked at PAL.

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At the end 2016, WAEMU’s automated processing and settlement system (STAR-UEMOA) had 118 participants, with four new comers, two from Togo.  The latter are Coris Bank and Société Générale Togo. This was revealed in the latest annual report of the Central Bank of West African States, obtained by Togo First.

According to the document, intra-WAEMU transactions stood at CFA26,272 billion at the end of 2016, thus 5.74% of global bank transactions. This amount is up 14.53% compared to that recorded in 2015.

Within WAEMU, Togo is one of the active actors in terms of transactions recorded in the region. Actually, the Côte d’Ivoire-Togo corridor is one of the most dynamic in the union. Looking at location-based distribution of cross-border transactions reported in STAR-UEMOA, Togo comes fourth with a total amount of CFA3,463 billion, behind Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Burkina Faso follow. “In terms of value, most dynamic corridors are Côte d’Ivoire-Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire-Burkina, Côte d’Ivoire-Togo”, the report states.

“Along each of these axes, cross-transactions’ value ranged between CFA1,000 and CFA2,000 billion in 2016”, it continues.

Overall, payments made in 2016 via the STAR-UEMOA system was CFA457,831 billion, up 49.25% compared to 2015. Over the period reviewed, 758,995 transactions were conducted via the system, against 682,895 a year before (+11%).

STAR-UEMOA is the regional system for real-time settlement of transactions of systemic importance (big amounts). Its mission is to accelerate payments, reduce costs associated to bank transactions and foster the development and integration of regional capital markets.

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In Togo, the government’s operation to improve public finances started at the beginning of 2017, and aiming to bring debt down to a bearable level, should bear fruits this year. According to Coface’s report on the country’s economy, “public debt should continue decreasing to stand below the WAEMU’s standard”, namely 70% of GDP.  

At the end of 2017, public debt was at 77.3% of GDP against 81.5% at the end of December 2016.

According to Coface, capital expenditures which drove growth over the past five years should drop to a more bearable level. Meanwhile to boost public revenues, the government, through various reforms initiated at the beginning of this year is working to improve business climate and attract more private investments. In this regard, AfDB predicts a two-digit (+10%) growth for private investment in 2018, a trend that should continue in the years to come.

Another objective of the government this year is to increase public earnings paired with less investments financed on internal resources (in % of GDP). “Tax reforms, including the creation of Togolese Revenue Office in 2015, should help boost these public earnings,” says Coface.

In addition, the credit-insurer believes that this increase in revenues will also be spurred by “a more favorable economic situation, across the sub-region, and recent investments made in infrastructures and transport”.

By 2019, Togo plans to reduce its budget deficit to 4.7% of GDP, against 9.8% in 2016.

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Last Tuesday, the 57^th general annual meeting of the Inter-African Coffee Organization (IACO) came to an end. It was held in Grand-Bassam, 43km East of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The meeting which opened a day earlier was placed under the theme: “Developing a sustainable coffee sector towards the emergence of Africa’s economy”. It regrouped 26 countries which discussed various ways to revitalize the sector.

During the meeting, participants decided to create a special fund of $150 million (about FCFA80 billion) to revitalize Africa’s coffee sector as it has been stagnating for more than 20 years now. The continent which used to supply 65% of the world’s daily output, now produces 12% of this output.

The “African Coffee Facility”, as it is baptized, should be backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). “We are in talks with the African Development Bank to set up this fund”, said IACO secretary general, Frederick Kawuma.   

The fund’s mission is to act as “ a catalyzer, an instrument to revive Africa’s coffee industry”. It should help boost production of State parties, including Togo whose coffee sector is quite weak. During the 2015-2016 season, the country produced 55,000 bags, against 143,000 bags the year before.

According to Denis Seudieu, chief economist at IACO, the country’s output which has so far been unstable, should rise in this season which started last October.

Fiacre E. Kakpo