Dakar, March 16 (APS) – The Senegalese economy “returned” to its pre-Covid-19 trajectory” to reach 6.1% growth in 2021, despite the health crisis having severely affected the world’s economies , said Wednesday in Dakar, the Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation, Amadou Hott.
“With the start of the implementation of PAP2A, the economy has returned to its pre-Covid-19 growth trajectory, and we expect 6.1% growth for the year 2021 according to the latest estimates. “, did he declare.
Mr. Amadou Hott chaired, on behalf of the President of the Republic, the third international conference on economic Francophonie.
This meeting, which is being held at Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar, focuses on the theme “Towards a resilient, green and inclusive economy”.
President Sall asked the government to “prepare an economic recovery program, and we have put in place the PAP2A, the adjusted and accelerated priority action plan, validated on September 30, 2020”, underlined Amadou Hott.
According to him, “many reforms have also been adopted to boost private sector investment, and one of the flagship reforms is the reform of the public-private partnership framework in Senegal”.
These reforms, he pointed out, have resulted in a simplification of procedures but also in a greater share of the national private sector, not only in the financing of construction, but also in the execution of these projects.
Amadou Hott also notes that faced with the difficulties of integrating young people into the labor market “exacerbated by the different waves of the pandemic”, Senegal has drawn up an emergency program for the socio-economic integration and employment of young people, validated on April 22, 2021 in Diamniadio.
“This program, at a cost of 450 billion CFA francs, must enlist more than 65,000 young people over the period 2021-2023, but also within the framework of the State-Employer program, support the creation of more than 20,000 jobs, with the State which contributes to the payment of their salaries”, he underlined.
“Entrepreneurship has also not been forgotten, with more funding through the Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship (DER) for young people and women and the Priority Investment Guarantee Fund (FONGIP), to support entrepreneurship of this category of population who represent 77% of our population”, he argued.
He also mentioned the economic and social resilience program of nearly 1,000 billion CFA francs put in place by the Head of State, to contain the harmful effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy in particular.
“Thanks to this economic and social resilience program of nearly 1,000 billion CFA francs, recession has been avoided in Senegal and real GDP has been maintained at 1.23% in 2020,” he noted.