New dawn for Senegal

Bassirou Diomaye Faye of the PASTEF party is to become the president of Senegal following a turbulent election period. Faye’s clear victory, having secured an estimated 57% of the votes in the first round of voting, could send the country in a new direction. In the election, which was initially postponed and involved the detention of opposition figures including Faye, he offered a different economic vision to that pursued by outgoing Macky Sall. 

He has pledged to renegotiate Senegal’s oil and gas contracts with international firms and promote national companies to avoid what his campaign has called “economic enslavement”. Global credit ratings agency S&P Global says that “policy shifts are to be expected" - they predict Faye could revisit the Plan Sénégal Emergent (PSE), the outgoing administration’s development plan; and say relations with multinationals could prove challenging if Faye follows through on his hydrocarbon pledges. 

Faye also says he will seek currency reform within the Ecowas bloc - some think he might challenge the role of the French-backed CFA franc. But Alex Vines, director of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, says that “Faye is a lot more pragmatic in private and knows that he needs to improve the economy and attract further investment.” Either way, it proves to be an interesting new era for Senegal. >> Read more

Source: African Business