The ministers of the Benin government held their weekly ordinary council of ministers meeting on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in the effective presence of the Head of State, President Patrice Talon, who is also the head of government.
During today’s government meeting, several issues were discussed, decisions were made, and appointments were announced at the Ministry of Secondary Technical Education and Vocational Training. Here is the full report of the decisions taken during today’s council of ministers.
Summary of the Council of Ministers
I- MESURES NORMATIVES
As part of these measures, the implementing decrees of Law No. 2021-01 of February 3, 2021 on biosafety in the Republic of Benin have been adopted, as well as those relating to:
- Regulations on building permits and demolition permits in the Republic of Benin;
- Integration of 85 auditors into the judicial corps.
II- COMMUNICATIONS
II-1. Incentives to improve access to financing from the National Agricultural Development Fund (FNDA) for farmers and small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises.
The main objective of the FNDA is to promote agricultural sectors by facilitating access to financing to encourage private investment in the sector through targeted subsidies and adapted financial instruments, with the aim of better harnessing the national agricultural potential, improving income from agriculture, and ensuring food security.
In this regard, incentive measures had already been put in place. So far, they have led to 396 commitments from the Fund, amounting to 16,944,226,301 XOF for the benefit of 1,541 promoters, including 339 commitments from the “access to financial services” window, amounting to 14,600,306,301 XOF for 1,484 guaranteed, subsidized, or refinanced projects.
Furthermore, the facilities granted at the level of this window have enabled a total funding of 61,059,267,638 XOF to be raised from Decentralized Financial Systems (DFS) and partner banks of the FNDA, in the form of agricultural credits.
Since agriculture is one of the main pillars of growth, it is important to strengthen incentive measures with a streamlined and attractive mechanism in order to further reduce poverty by addressing the remaining difficulties that limit the benefits of the offered facilities.
These include, among others:
- The low level of engagement in the implementation of the financing mechanism established by the FNDA, as a consequence of the lack of control over agricultural value chains by certain financial institutions.
- The ineligibility of the guarantee proposed by the FNDA in relation to the prudential framework in force within the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
- The difficulties faced by the majority of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in meeting the credit conditions of banks (quality of applications, additional guarantees, financial counterpart, etc.).
Therefore, in order to substantially improve the performance level of the Fund, the Council has approved a new incentive measure to reduce the refinancing rate of the FNDA to deserving Financial Service Providers (FSPs) from 2% to 0%, for the establishment of loans benefiting farmers and agricultural MSMEs at a maximum interest rate of 12% per year, declining.
This measure, aimed at relieving agricultural promoters, consists of the ultimate reimbursement of the 2% annual interest, which will be paid after the repayment of the refinancing granted by the FNDA. These facilities should result in greater interest from FSPs in the mechanism. For this purpose, eligibility is conditioned by two performance indicators:
- A utilization rate of the refinancing line equal to or greater than 70%.
- A repayment rate of 100% of the funds utilized, in accordance with the amortization schedules for each drawdown. In case of default, the measure of interest reimbursement fades for the specific drawdown.
Furthermore, the facilities also cover the provision of financial support over a period of two years to partially cover staff salary expenses (75% in the first year and 50% in the second year) for supporting and enhancing the intervention of FSPs in order to improve access to financing for farmers.
The main objective of this measure is to strengthen the operational field framework (awareness-raising, registration, credit application processing, as well as post-financing follow-up). It will allow, on the one hand, a more remarkable intervention in communities down to the village level, where currently FSPs do not have adequate coverage, and on the other hand, to improve the quality of service and monitoring of granted agricultural credits.
This support is planned to last for 24 months and will be part of a Special Employment Insertion Program (SEIP – Agricultural), in which the State will cover 75% of the salary expenses in the first year and 50% in the second year, with the FSPs covering the remaining 25% and 50% respectively.
The relevant ministers will ensure the diligent implementation of these incentive measures.
II-2. Report on the work of the National Supervision Committee regarding the mission of expert teams tasked with reviewing, in collaboration with municipalities, the urban land subdivision/restructuring operations proposed for annulment.
During the Council of Ministers session on November 23, 2022, a decision was made to establish expert teams responsible for reviewing the land subdivisions/restructuring operations to be canceled in municipalities. This decision followed the report of the interministerial committee for the implementation of measures for the cleansing, completion, and closure of land subdivision and urban land restructuring operations throughout the national territory.
At the end of the National Supervision Committee’s deliberations, 810 cases were processed instead of the initially selected 806, as some situations initially perceived as underlying other operations turned out to be significant works carried out by different contractors.
Many irregularities were detected, particularly at a technical level, with the most significant ones relating to operations:
very large areas that impact agricultural zones and do not comply with any urbanization objectives;
engaged by land interest associations or other categories of actors, disregarding planning and land management guidelines, documents, and rules;
having experienced extensive extensions whose boundaries and appropriateness are hardly addressed, etc.
It is also worth mentioning that the review of the report revealed the need to quickly regulate land use and territorial planning in departmental capitals, as well as in densely populated centers, in order to consolidate the investments of the Government’s Action Program in these territories.
To this end, a master urban planning plan/urban development scheme will be developed in all departmental capitals, including all areas with significant human concentration, to regulate the operationalization of subdivisions/land reorganization.
Furthermore, the reports indicate that many subdivision operations have encompassed non-constructible wetlands, resulting in the settlement of populations in unsuitable areas for habitation. Consequently, these chaotic occupations are frequently exposed to the risks of climate hazards.
Since these areas are not clearly identified and delimited, they end up within certain urban subdivision/reorganization perimeters, in violation of applicable laws. There are also regulatory easements to be released for these wetland areas, but unfortunately, they are fragmented for population resettlement purposes, as they are not properly defined.
For all these reasons, and considering the conclusions of the report, the Council has decided to continue with the completion and closure of the 175 new operations. It has also ordered the cancellation of 635 others.
III- INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS AND EVENTS
It was authorized under this heading:
the organization in Benin, on December 15, 2023, of the 20th Steering Committee meeting of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Development Project;
Benin’s participation at the 4th High-Level African Forum on Women, Peace, and Security on December 13 and 14, 2023, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;
the 35th regular session of the Board of Ministers of Social Security International Conference, from December 13 to 15, 2023, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
IV- INDIVIDUAL MEASURES.
The following appointments have been made at the Ministry of Secondary, Technical, and Vocational Education:
Legal Technical Advisor: Mrs. Edith AMOU AGBELESSECHI
Technical Advisor in charge of Monitoring Reforms and Projects: Mr. Mathias AFFOMAÏ
Technical Advisor for Technical Education, Vocational Training, and Educational Alternatives: Mr. Jean-Pierre BIO YARA
Technical Advisor for General Secondary Education: Mr. Gabriel COPIERY
Technical Advisor for Administrative and Social Affairs: Mr. Arnaud GBAGUIDI.
Done in Cotonou, on December 6, 2023,
The Secretary-General of the Government,
Edouard OUIN-OURO.
