World Bank Group doubles financing for Togo under four-year Country Partnership Framework with over $350 million in proposed IDA support
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2017 — The Board of the World Bank Group today discussed a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Togo covering the period from July 2016 to June 2020. The CPF presents the World Bank Group’s proposed strategy over the four-year period, including interventions to help the country pave the way to more inclusive and sustainable growth led by a more dynamic private sector and more effective government policies, public
“We are pleased the Board has endorsed the new framework for our cooperation with Togo which, since 2008, has been working hard to catch up and emerge from a 15-year period of donor disengagement,” says Pierre Laporte, the World Bank Country Director for Togo. Vera Songwe, IFC Regional Director for West and Central Africa, added that: “Preparing a joint strategy allows Togo to benefit from the full range of the World Bank Group’s products and services, and ensures complementarity of our interventions in both the public and private sectors”.
A Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Togo prepared by the World Bank Group in 2016 concluded that weak governance impedes a more robust, inclusive and sustainable growth and has contributed to a stagnant per capita GDP. Poverty rates remain high at 55 percent, despite having come down from 61 percent in 2011. Governance reforms aimed at engendering a more inclusive growth process led by private economic activity are needed to build an economy that is more productive, creates more jobs and leads to a virtuous cycle of rising incomes, expanded fiscal resources, and an increased ability to pay for public services to improve the well-being
The World Bank Group’s new strategy emphasizes governance as a foundational, cross-cutting theme, with strengthening institutions and accountability as objectives
Under the first focus area aimed at promoting the performance of the private sector and job creation, the Bank will assist the authorities to strengthen fiscal policy and debt management, including through a new series of development policy operations (budget supports) supporting reforms in tax policy and administration, public investment management, and in the governance of the energy and telecommunications sectors. In addition, technical assistance and investment financing will support fiscal and regulatory reforms and investments aimed at growing the formal private sector and increasing agricultural productivity, access to markets and stronger value chains, and will help improve the quality of economic infrastructure services (energy,
The International Finance Company (IFC), the part of the World Bank Group that promotes private sector development, will particularly support this focus area, as it seeks to enhance its investment and advisory work to support trade and public-private partnerships (PPPs) and promote private investments in infrastructure, agribusiness, manufacturing, services, the financial sector and small and medium enterprises development. IFC and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) –also a member of the World Bank Group promoting foreign direct investments
The second focus area, promoting inclusive public service delivery, includes interventions to strengthen health systems, local and municipal basic infrastructure services, and social safety nets for the most vulnerable. “These operations emphasize empowering local governments and communities by building their capacity to plan, prioritize and implement basic services,” according to Joelle Businger, World Bank Country Manager for Togo and Task Team Leader for the CPF. She adds that: “This will have a direct impact on people’s lives, by giving them the tools and resources to improve their cities and communities.”
Through the third focus area, the World Bank Group will help Togo strengthen the management of its productive natural resources, strengthen environmental resilience and reinforce its adaptation to climate change. Interventions will focus on helping urban and rural communities adapt to climate variability, change farming practices and improve the preparedness for natural disasters and other man-made risks, and policies and infrastructure to mitigate the impact of coastal erosion.
Togo will benefit from the new IDA18* replenishment which provides increased support for fragile states to scale up concessional financing and promote joint IDA,
The new CPF will support the implementation of projects and programs currently underway and proposes eight (8) new operations in the areas of energy, competitiveness and skills development, urban infrastructure, logistics services, health, public services, coastal management and integrated disaster and land management. Besides the investments operations, a number of analytical studies and advisory services are planned, including among others on: (i)
* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 77 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.3 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 112 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $19 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent going to Africa.