Affirming continuity, Senegal’s new prime minister tightens his method

Addressing the National Assembly convened in extraordinary session on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Prime Minister Ahmadou Alhaminou Mohamed Lo delivered his General Policy Declaration (DPG), pursuant to Article 55 of the Constitution, just over three months after his appointment on May 25, 2026, by President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, and the formation of his government on June 1.

A former Secretary-General of the Government and then Minister of State in charge of the Senegal 2050 Agenda, the head of government immediately claimed continuity with his predecessor, Ousmane Sonko, who has since become President of the National Assembly. “Nothing changes, therefore, the course will be maintained,” he stressed, reaffirming the seven ruptures of the previous DPG and the ‘Senegal 2050’ Reference Framework as the sole compass. Only the method will evolve, he specified, structured around six principles: prioritize, finance differently, execute, measure, dialogue, and account.

The Prime Minister provided a blunt assessment of public finances. The consolidated public sector debt stood at the end of 2024 at about 132% of GDP, or more than 23,500 billion CFA francs, with a deficit revalued at 13.7% of GDP. In 2025, growth excluding hydrocarbons was limited to 2.2%, and the budget deficit to 6.4%. Faced with this situation, aggravated in his view by the outbreak in February 2026 of a war between Iran, the United States, and Israel, five successive downgrades of the sovereign rating were recorded with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

Ahmadou Alhaminou Lo confirmed that a technical agreement was concluded on September 1, 2026, with the services of the International Monetary Fund on a new program focused on investment and transparency, insisting that no conditionality exceeds the commitments already made in the presidential program ‘Diomaye President’. He also detailed a Senegal Debt Treatment Plan (PTDS), announced on September 1 and ‘almost finalized’, aimed at extending maturities and reducing the average cost of debt, with the support of the IMF, the World Bank, and official creditors. The clearance of arrears to the private sector, estimated at 1,956 billion CFA francs at the end of March 2025, is also among immediate priorities.

The Prime Minister also announced a reform of energy subsidies, the cost of which will be reduced to less than 1% of GDP by 2029, with a refocusing on the most vulnerable households and a target of a 30% reduction in the price per kilowatt-hour of electricity by 2030. He set a target of covering one million poor and vulnerable households with a social safety net from 2027, with a doubled budget envelope of 140 billion CFA francs. In housing, the stated ambition is to deliver at least 30,000 units per year to address a deficit estimated at 500,000 homes.

The head of government also touched on several sensitive files: ongoing investigations into events between February 2021 and February 2024, the review of mining and oil contracts, land audits on the coast and state domains, as well as the Yakaar-Teranga case, a gas field whose contract expires in July 2026 with $55 million in compensation expected by the state. On the diplomatic and security front, he recalled the end, since July 2025, of any foreign military presence on Senegalese soil.

A series of so-called ‘catalytic’ projects was presented as structuring for the decade: gas development of Yakaar-Teranga, national gas network, modernization of refining (SAR 2), Kédougou mining hub, Grand Water Transfer, new Dakar-Tambacounda-Kidira railway line, four new regional hospitals, and the Dakar Millenium Center, an urban project worth 500 billion CFA francs in Ouakam.

Ahmadou Alhaminou Lo concluded by placing institutional, macroeconomic, and social stability as ‘the needle of the compass’ of his action, while calling for a shared effort from Senegalese people, based on tax compliance, local consumption, and volunteerism. “This Government does not ask to be judged on its intentions, but on its effectiveness and its results,” he declared, promising quarterly execution reviews that he will chair himself.