Senegal sets out ambitious development agenda

 

A demonstrator holds a scarf during a march against the new amnesty law and for earlier presidential elections, Dakar, Senegal, March 2, 2024. [AFP]

Senegal's government on Monday unveiled a vast breakaway development plan, pledging to increase average individual income by almost 50 per cent in five years while slashing the deficit and debt.

The 25-year project seeks to move the West African nation away from foreign dependence and debt in favour of local resources and human capital.

It forms part of the radical shake-up promised by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye who took office in April, raising hopes in the country battling a high cost of living and widespread unemployment.

Faye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko launched the ambitious programme just over a month before snap parliamentary elections scheduled for November 17.

The pair's first six months in power have been marked by confrontation with an opposition-dominated parliament, which Faye dissolved in mid-September.

Faye described the new public policy framework as a "vision for a Senegal that aspires not just to participate in the world of tomorrow, but to play a major role in it".

The "Senegal 2050: national transformation agenda" would work to make the country a leading regional player and "a development model for Africa", he added.

Prime Minister Sonko said the strategy aimed to break what he termed "the vicious circle of dependence and underdevelopment".

Scores of Senegalese risk their lives leaving the country every year in search of a brighter future in Europe.

The national statistics agency in September reported an unemployment rate of 21.6 per cent in the second quarter, up three per cent on the same period in 2023.

In the same month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the country's economic prospects remained "challenging for the remainder of the year".

Despite reserves of natural resources including oil and gas, Senegal ranks 169th out of 192 countries on the UN Human Development Index.

'Ravages of bad choices'

Sonko described the country's economic situation as "catastrophic" at the end of September following a government review of public finances.

On Monday, he denounced the "ravages of the bad choices and bad practices of our governing elites since independence", which Senegal gained from France in 1960.

Both Faye and Sonko bemoaned economic inefficiencies, a weak private and industrial sector, and poverty, which they said impacted four out of 10 Senegalese.

"These generally imposed choices have not only limited our development potential but have also deprived the country of control over its destiny", Faye said.

The government said their development agenda would aim to make Senegal a "sovereign, just and prosperous nation".

Under the plan, the government forecasts economic growth between 6.5 and seven percent from 2025 to 2029, said Souleymane Diallo, the director general of planning at the economy ministry.

It plans to reduce central government debt from 83.7 per cent of GDP in 2023 to 70 per cent in 2029, he added.

Diallo said the government also targeted slashing the budget deficit to three per cent, which averaged 10.4 per cent from 2019 to 2023, according to government figures.

Diallo vowed that inflation would be controlled at around two per cent for the next five years.

"The average income of the Senegalese should rise from $1,660 to around $2,468, an increase of almost 50 per cent in five years," he added.

'Fight corruption'

The "Senegal: 2050" plan relies on the country's human capital, emphasising education and good governance.

"We will fight corruption hard," Faye pledged.

The programme focuses on developing competitive sectors such as the extractive industries and growth drivers such as agriculture and value-added services, including technology.

It will be based around eight regional hubs, connected by road, rail and "river corridors".

Development is intended to be sustainable, with increases in the share of solar and wind power.

The government also said it aimed to achieve universal access to water and electricity, as well as a national health insurance system, and reform of the justice system, institutions and land tenure.

Diallo said that life expectancy would increase by at least three years.

That was almost 69 years in 2023, according to the National Statistics Agency.