Topics Covered
Welcome to Togo
Overview of Resources
Industrial Minerals and Gemstones
Fossil Fuels
Investment
Sources
Welcome to Togo
Togo is a small country located in Western Africa between Benin and Ghana. The total area of the country is 56,785 km2, and it has a population of 6,961,049 as of July 2012. The country’s climate is tropical.
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The national flag of Togo.
Image Credit: CIA Factbook. |
Togo became an independent country in 1960. However, after fighting years of political unrest and human rights violation, the country started getting recognition from the international community only in the last decade.
Togo’s economy is sluggish and depends mainly on agriculture. The country’s GDP was $6.497 billion as of 2011. The country’s natural resources include phosphates, limestone, and marble. The mining sector of the country is largely underdeveloped.
Overview of Resources
The mineral products produced in Togo in 2010 include phosphate, cement, diamond, gold, clinker, and limestone. The country has many undeveloped mineral resources such as iron ore, manganese, bauxite, gypsum, marble, rutile, and zinc.
Togo relies heavily on imports as can be seen by the following statistics recorded in 2010:
- Imports from USA were valued at $170 million compared to $125 million in 2009
- Exports to USA were valued at $9 million compared to $6 million in 2009
The map of Togo. Image Credit: CIA Factbook
Industrial Minerals and Gemstones
Togo is one of the largest producers of phosphate rock in the world as of 2010. Phosphate production has been dominating Togo’s mining industry for many years. Hence the government is focused on increasing the production further by investing in advanced equipment.
Fossil Fuels
The government of Togo has been working towards developing the country’s offshore mineral resources. In 2010, Eni S.p.A. of Italy acquired a 100% interest and operatorship of offshore Block 1 and Block 2 in the Dahomey Basin after signing two production-sharing agreements with the government.
Investment
The government of Togo has taken several initiatives, along with support from the World Bank and the IMF, to carry out economic reform measures, attract foreign investment, and balance revenues to match with expenditures. Nevertheless, experts feel that these measures are quite slow and Togo’s progress will depend more on the following factors:
- Privatization
- Transparency in government financial operations
- Progress toward legislative elections
- Extended support from foreign donors
According to the energy and mines minister of Togo, in 2010, many foreign investors were keen on conducting exploration activities in the country but were hesitant due to the lack of transparency in the mining sector’s legislation. Recently, the government had joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in an attempt to ease the worries of the investors.
Disclaimer: The Author of this article does not imply any investment recommendation and some content is speculative in nature. The Author is not affiliated in any way with any companies mentioned and all statistical information is publically available.
Sources
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