Since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, Togo's economy has shown signs of resilience in the face of shocks but efforts to reduce poverty were frustrated and fiscal space depleted. Togo was able to avoid a recession in 2020, with real GDP growth recorded at 2 percent, before rebounding rapidly to 6.0 percent in 2021, thanks in part to a strong counter-cyclical fiscal policy response. Challenges intensified again in 2022 as Russia's invasion of Ukraine contributed to a sharp uptick in energy, fertilizer, and food prices, while global demand decelerated, and financing conditions tightened. However, growth remained robust at 5.8 percent in 2022 as a significant increase in public spending helped counterbalance the adverse impact of weakening export revenues, rising inflation, and decelerating consumer spending. Low-income households were affected by high food price inflation in 2021-22, but the effect on poverty was offset by sustained economic growth and the benefits accruing to poor households dependent on agricultural income. Global headwinds, high domestic inflation, and growing insecurity in the northern Savanes region have prompted the Government to significantly ramp up emergency spending, leading the budget deficit to a three-decade high of 8.3 percent of GDP, from 4.7 percent in 2022
