Togo joins AFC as 20th member

Togo has joined Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), making the West African country the 20th Member of the leading infrastructure development finance institution.
Togo’s membership of AFC also makes it the 12th West African member of AFC after Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Chad, Cape Verde, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire.
In recent years, Togo has delivered one of the highest growth rates across the continent, averaging over 5% since the beginning of the commodity downturn in 2011, against a continental average of less than 4% during the same time period.
As the World Bank notes, this has been a result of Togo’s fiscal disciple and prudent monetary policy.
However, as a consequence of the retrenchment of public capital spending, the Togolese economy grew 0.5% slower in 2017 than 2016, with the construction industry being one of the main casualties.
To overcome this, the Togolese government launched the National Development Plan (PND) in August 2018, which will seek to attract $5.4 billion in private sector investment, with the infrastructure sector as a key investment priority.
Projects currently earmarked include the Port of Lome, an Airport hub and Railway infrastructure amongst others.
Established in 2007, the AFC invests across five sectors of infrastructure: Power, Telecommunications, Transport & Logistics, Natural Resources and Heavy Industries. To date, the Corporation is invested US$ 4.5 billion across 28 African countries.
Togo’s milestone decision to join the Corporation will therefore enhance its ability to access AFC’s award-winning capacity for infrastructure development, financing expertise to complement the PND’s objectives as well as the Corporation’s advisory services to modernize and bolster its economy.
“We are very pleased to welcome the Togolese Republic as a Member State of AFC,” said AFC President and CEO Samaila Zubairu as he commented on the announcement.
“Earlier this year, we saw the country outline its very ambitious plan for modernizing its economy, and in particular its infrastructure, through the PND announced last August. As Africa’s leading investor in the sector, we therefore stand ready to become Togo’s go to partner for infrastructure financing and development,” he continued.
Commenting on the same, Republic of Togo Minister of Economy and Finance, Sani Yaya said Africa needs to find ways to enable and accelerate infrastructure development, if it is to reach its fullest economic, environmental and social potential.
“It is for this reason that we have sought to make infrastructure development, a key priority of our 2018 – 2022 National Development Plan.
We recognise that there are technical challenges and constraints for which we need International partners such as AFC, with its investment grade rating and pan- African footprint, to provide us with much needed assistance in implementing the PND,” he explained.
“We are delighted to become members of AFC. As one of the largest financers and developers of infrastructure in Africa, AFC is a strong partner perfectly placed to assist Togo in realizing its investment objectives, improving the quality of Togo’s infrastructure, and enabling Togo to expedite economic development through regional integration for the benefit of all our people,” President Zubairu concluded.
Source: Footprint2africa