Togo

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Togo is located in Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana. The capital is Lome. Population was estimated at 5.4 million in 2003, and is growing at a rate of 2.37 percent. Population estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS. French is the official language of commerce. Ewe and Mina are the two major African languages in the south, while Kabye and Dagomba are the two major African languages in the north.

This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export earnings, with cotton being the most important cash crop. Togo is the world's fourth-largest producer of phosphate, but production fell an estimated 22% in 2002 due to power shortages and the cost of developing new deposits. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has moved slowly.

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