Building capacity to help Africa trade better

Togo

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Togo

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Togo

Key Facts

  • Capital: Lome
  • Region: West Africa
  • Official languages: French
  • Independence Day: April 27, 1960
  • Area: 56,785 sq km
  • Population (2018): 7.9 million
  • REC membership: ECOWAS
  • WTO membership: May 31, 1995
  • GDP (2018): US$ 5.359 billion
  • GNI per capita (2018): US$ 660
  • Currency: CFA franc

Economic overview

Thanks to investments in energy and transportation infrastructure, the investment rate rose from 12% of GDP to 26% over 2012-15 and drove economic growth, estimated at 5.1% in 2019. However, these public expenditures increased the risk of debt unsustainability since it boosted the debt ratio to more than 80% of GDP in 2016.

In accord with a macroeconomic program (2017–19) to lower debt to less than 70% of GDP in 2020, public capital spending was reduced by more than 40%. Even so, growth recovered to 4.9% in 2018 and 5.1% in 2019 thanks to reform initiatives to broaden fiscal space, improve the business climate, and support the energy, agroindustry, logistics, and digital sectors.

Fiscal discipline and reduced capital spending brought the fiscal deficit down from 8.3% of GDP in 2016 to 2.7% in 2019. The current account deficit improved from 9.9% of GDP in 2016 to 6% in 2019 following a more than 20% decline in imports, marking the end of major infrastructure works.

Unemployment was 3.4% in 2015, with underemployment at 24.9%. The poverty rate was 53%, and a Gini index of 0.38 reflecting significant inequalities. Consumer spending by the richest 25% was 2.5 times that by the poorest 25%.

Economic prospects are encouraging, with growth expected to reach 5.3% in 2020 and 5.5% in 2021, on the back of good performance in agriculture and sound monetary management. The debt ratio should be less than 70% of GDP in 2020, with an average budget deficit of 2.1% of GDP. The current account deficit is projected at 5.2% of GDP in 2020 and 5% in 2021.

Public investment contributed to improving basic infrastructure and road and energy connections. Under the auspices of ECOWAS, political dialogue led to the organization of legislative elections in 2018 and local elections in 2019, the first in more than 30 years.

Public finance reforms and the improvement of the business environment helped Togo advance several positions in the 2019 and 2020 Doing Business report. After the country’s successful implementation of its macroeconomic reform program, Standard & Poor’s assigned Togo’s debt a low-risk credit rating.

The economy is undiversified, with a limited industrial structure and low manufacturing value added (16% of GDP on average in 2015-18). Credit to the agroindustrial sector remains below an average of 0.5% of domestic lending, even though agriculture employs the most people.

Institutional inaction and the sluggish structuring of projects are impeding change, and structural weaknesses reduce the efficiency of public investments.

Key challenges are to increase the fiscal space and bank financing for sectors driving growth. Tax revenues of 20% of GDP must rise to fill infrastructure gaps (energy, transport, telecommunications), to finance sectors with high growth potential, like agroindustry, and to allocate more to strengthening human capital. Increasing bank financing for sectors driving growth requires a systematic dialogue with public and private players.

Last updated: April 2020

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