Ousmane Sonko announces the presentation of the disruptive program “Senegal 2050”

The government of Senegal, in power since April, will present on Monday October 14 a development project breaking with dependence on foreign countries and debt to rely on local resources and human capital, the Prime Minister declared this Friday. , Ousmane Sonko.

“The models of development that has been presented to us or that has been applied to us until now will never be able to develop our country, so it is the end of the era of reckless debt [servant à] invest in projects that have no connection with the construction of endogenous and sovereign development,” said the Prime Minister in a professional training center born from cooperation with Japan and training maintenance technicians.

Ousmane Sonko, whose country has natural wealth such as oil and gas, minerals and fisheries resources, but remains among those in plus low level of development in the world, cited as an example the success of Japan, despite having little natural resources. “The Japanese model is ideal for our countries [africains]we prefer to be taught to fish rather than continue to offer us fish”, did he affirmed.

Sovereignist, social and pan-Africanist policy

The government will therefore present this Monday, with great fanfare, its program for the next 25 years. The presidency praises this public policy framework entitled “Senegal 2050: national agenda for transformation”, economic but also political, as a “turning point”.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Ousmane’s lieutenant Sonko prevented from running for president, won the March election in the first round by promising to break with the past, fight corruption and pursue a sovereignist, social and pan-Africanist left-wing policy. Since then, the Prime Minister has not delivered any general policy speech. et the first six months in power were marked by confrontation with a hostile majority in Parliament, dating back to the legislative elections of 2022. The president dissolved the Assembly and set elections for November 17. Ousmane Sonko will lead the list of his party, Pastef.

“Senegal 2050 » aims to reduce poverty, triple per capita income by 2050 and achieve average annual economic growth of 6 to 7%, promises the presidency. The proposed development model will be structured around eight development poles in the territory, said Ousmane Sonko.

The government indicated at the end of September that, after an audit, it found the public accounts in a “catastrophic” state, as Ousmane Sonko described them, with a budget deficit of 10.4% of GDP instead of the 5.5% announced, and a public debt of 76.3% of GDP, instead of the 65.9% announced. Ousmane Sonko accused the former power of having manipulated the accounts and lied to foreign partners, which the former leaders refuted. The rating agency Moody’s lowered Senegal’s rating and classified the country sous surveillance.

(with AFP)