Published on : 11/05/2022 – 04:57
President Macky Sall launched a program on Tuesday May 10 which grants 80,000 FCFA (the equivalent of 120 euros) to each of the approximately 543,000 vulnerable families listed. The operation aims to relieve the poorest in the face of rising prices, in the context of the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic. An emergency response, but which also has its limits according to some economists.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
In 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic, the government had launched a distribution of food kits: bags of rice, packets of sugar or even cans of oil. This time, it is a cash transfer via mobile phone. Beneficiary households, identified upstream by local committees, are registered in the Single National Register. An operation within the framework of a policy social inclusion volunteer “, according to President Macky Sall.
« The objective is to give 80,000 francs per household and thus improve their level of consumption and the education of their children. We succeeded in this bet thanks to an innovative financial package in terms of social assistance and national solidarity. »
It is an approach ” targeted and efficient according to the director of operations of the World Bank, the main financial partner of the program. For Nathan Belete, it allows each beneficiary family ” to meet their specific needs, by making purchases from merchants and by stimulating the local economy ».
Direct aid, but the effectiveness of which is not guaranteed, estimates the economist Souleymane Astou Diagne: ” This mechanism does not allow the government to tackle the ills of the Senegalese economy. today, the real problem is that of productivity. There is also a weakness of infrastructure, human capital, lack of mastery of water and energy. So if it can relieve, it does not solve anything. The effect will be very short-lived. »
The teacher-researcher also wonders about “ electoral motivations of the operation, before the July legislative elections. According to the authorities, the government’s efforts have led to a 5% decline in the poverty rate.
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