2.2 Brief presentation
of Togo
Togo is a country of 56,000 Km2 situated on the West African
coast between Ghana on the west side and Benin on the East side. Togo shares on
the north side border with Burkina Faso. Togo politics has been dominated for
the last 45 years by the same party. The Political situation in Togo is not
totally stable with street demonstrations going on almost every week for
different reasons. The current major issues are around the organization of the
next parliamentary elections with the opposition calling for profound
constitutional and institutional changes as well as changes in the conditions
of organization of the elections. According to the World Bank, Togo economic
growth was estimated at 3.7% in 2010 and has risen to 3.9% thanks to improved
rain fall, improved power supply and an increase in port activities . In fact
Togo is very dependent on mining, agriculture and sea port activities. Still
according to the World Bank, agriculture employs two third of the Togolese
population but accounts only for 45% of the GDP, services dominated by commerce
and transport employ 21% of the population and represents 33% of the GDP. In
January 2013, the two main markets of Togo have burned impacting adversely the
service sector which represents 21% of the GDP. There is therefore a fear that
the activities of Maersk Togo, mainly the import side will be negatively
affected unless there is a governmental plan to rescue the service sector. Togo
is also a net importer. The total container volumes exported equals to 12 550
FFE (forty foot equivalent) while the total import is equivalent to 52880
FFE.(5) Imports represent 83% of the containerised volumes handled in the port
of Lomé in 2012, evidencing the fact that Togo is a net importer.
The economic activities in Togo are heavily impacted by the
political and economic situation in the neighbouring countries which are Ghana,
Côte d'Ivoire and Benin. The political situation in Côte d'Ivoire
from 2002 to 2010 is for example an explanation of the sudden growth in the
import and export in Togo. The growth in export market was made of export of
Cocoa from Côte d'Ivoire routed via Burkina Faso. The below graph is a
comparison of the containerised export volumes for the years 2010, 2011 and
2012(6). The increase in 2010 and most importantly in 2011 is explained by the
electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire and the reduction in 2012 is explained
by the return to normal in this neighbouring country after a decade of
political instability.
The impact of the situation in the neighbouring countries also
impacts the import side of economic activities; Togo has for example seen an
increase in the containerised volumes in the month of January in 2012 compared
to the same period in 2013 and also in preceding years due to a congestion in
the port of Cotonou as a result of a project of building a quay. There is also
an infrastructure competition between the different ports on the coast and
volumes to Hinterland countries shift from one port to another if there is the
adequate infrastructure to facilitate the handling of the goods and their
haulage up to the landlocked countries which are Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
There are two projects of building new quay in the port of Lome which will
impact the business of Maersk Togo in the future.
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