In Togo, financial institutions extended a total of 966 billion FCFA in credit to economic operators in 2024, as reported by the National Credit Council (CNC), which convened for its first meeting of 2025 at the end of last week. This figure marks an 18% increase from 2023, when the total was 793 billion FCFA.
This trend indicates a positive environment for financing the local economy, according to Minister of Economy Georges Barcola, who urged financial institutions to continue on this path. “I am confident that the banking and financial sector will help us achieve this goal, especially considering the encouraging developments observed in 2024,” he stated.
Meanwhile, microfinance institutions provided loans totaling 302 billion FCFA to economic agents, reflecting a slight decline from the 305 billion FCFA issued in 2023. Conversely, factoring financing saw a 19% increase year-on-year, reaching an outstanding amount of 34 billion FCFA in 2024. Additionally, leasing services experienced substantial growth, rising from 30 billion to 60 billion FCFA during the same timeframe.
The quality of banks’ credit portfolios also showed improvement, with the gross deterioration rate decreasing to 7% by the end of 2024, down from 8% the previous year.
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The National Credit Council attributes this positive trend primarily to a reduction in interest rates for business loans. The average interest rate for these loans decreased by 40 basis points, settling at 8.1%.
In light of these developments, the Minister of Economy commended the contributions of financial sector stakeholders, particularly the leaders of banks and decentralized financial systems. He encouraged them to enhance their support for economic operators, especially very small and medium-sized enterprises (VSEs), which are deemed essential to the national economic framework.
