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Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has urged citizens to endure “sacrifices” for the next few years as the country struggles to stabilise its troubled economy. His comments mark one of the government’s clearest acknowledgements yet of the severity of Senegal’s financial challenges.
Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye came to power in 2024 on promises to rein in debt and revive economic growth, arguing that years of mismanagement under former president Macky Sall had pushed the country into crisis.
Senegal is currently grappling with a budget deficit equivalent to 14 per cent of GDP and a public debt level of nearly 132 per cent of GDP at the end of last year. Faced with this mounting pressure, the government has introduced a raft of new taxes in recent weeks, affecting tobacco, alcohol, gambling and widely used digital money transfer services.
Speaking at a PASTEF party gathering near Dakar, Sonko appealed for public understanding: “I am asking the Senegalese people for a sacrifice during two or three years, and I know you will accept this sacrifice.”
He stressed that the state was also cutting back, including halting official travel, workshops, and government vehicle purchases, as part of a broader push to curb spending.
In August, Sonko set out an economic recovery strategy centred on boosting domestic revenue to reduce reliance on external borrowing. The plan comes as Senegal continues to face high unemployment, estimated at around 20 per cent, while poverty affects roughly 36 per cent of its population.
