In Togo, the GDP growth rate could be 1.3% and even experience a contraction of 1.5% in 2020 in the most pessimistic hypothesis against an initial forecast of 5.5%, said Friday the Minister of Economy and Finance Sani Yaya.

Mr. Yaya made this statement in his speech at the meeting of the Technical Committee of the government-private sector consultation framework on Friday in Lomé.

He based himself on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Togolese economy, evoking a substantial drop in budgetary resources in connection with the fiscal measures taken by the government to support businesses.

It is in a context where the Togolese government has taken socio-economic measures in favor of the population and businesses, to curb the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of May 15, Togo has detected a cumulative 263 confirmed cases of COVID-19 including 96 recovered patients, 156 under treatment and eleven deaths.

"This crisis will undoubtedly be an opportunity to rethink our economic model to make it less dependent on the outside and therefore more resilient to external shocks," commented Sani Yaya.

He estimated that this new direction of economic policy will undoubtedly lead Togo to revise and update its national development plan (PND) for which the private sector is called upon to play a role.