Why is Senegal’s new prime minister promising continuity while tightening the rules?

When Ahmadou Alhaminou Mohamed Lo stepped before the National Assembly on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, for his general policy statement, he carried the weight of a nation navigating choppy waters. His address, delivered under article 55 of the Constitution just over three months after his appointment on 25 May 2026 by President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, followed the formation of his government on 1 June.

A former Secretary-General of the Government and minister of state in charge of the Senegal 2050 Agenda, the prime minister quickly claimed continuity with his predecessor, Ousmane Sonko, who now presides over the National Assembly. “Nothing changes, the course will be maintained,” he insisted, reaffirming the seven breaks outlined in the previous policy statement and the Senegal 2050 framework as his only compass. What will evolve, he clarified, is the methodology, built on six pillars: prioritising, financing differently, executing, measuring, dialoguing, and accounting for results.

The prime minister painted an unvarnished picture of public finances. By the end of 2024, consolidated public debt stood at roughly 132 percent of GDP—more than 23 500 billion CFA francs—with a deficit revised to 13.7 percent of GDP. In 2025, growth outside the hydrocarbon sector limped to 2.2 percent, and the budget deficit settled at 6.4 percent. He blamed the situation, exacerbated by the outbreak of war between Iran, the United States, and Israel in February 2026, and noted that Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s had downgraded the sovereign rating five times in succession.

Lo confirmed that on 1 September 2026, a technical agreement was reached with the International Monetary Fund’s services for a new programme focused on investment and transparency. He stressed that no conditionality exceeds commitments already made under the presidential programme “Diomaye Président”. He also detailed a Debt Treatment Plan for Senegal, announced on 1 September and “almost finalised”, aiming to extend maturities and lower the average cost of debt, with support from the IMF, the World Bank, and official creditors. Clearing arrears owed to the private sector—estimated at 1 956 billion CFA francs by the end of March 2025—tops the list of immediate priorities.

Energy subsidy reforms also featured prominently. The cost is to be trimmed to less than 1 percent of GDP by 2029, with a sharper focus on the most vulnerable households, and a target of cutting the price per kilowatt-hour of electricity by 30 percent by 2030. By 2027, he aims to have one million poor and vulnerable households covered by a social safety net, with the budget doubled to 140 billion CFA francs. In housing, the ambition is to deliver at least 30 000 units each year to tackle an estimated deficit of 500 000 homes.

The prime minister did not shy away from sensitive issues. He mentioned ongoing investigations into events that took place between February 2021 and February 2024, the review of mining and oil contracts, land audits along the coast and on state-owned property, and the Yakaar-Teranga gas field, whose contract expires in July 2026, with 55 million dollars in compensation expected by the state. On diplomacy and security, he recalled that since July 2025, no foreign military has had a presence on Senegalese soil.

A series of “catalytic” projects were presented as foundational for the decade: developing the Yakaar-Teranga gas project, building a national gas network, modernising the refinery (SAR 2), establishing a mining hub in Kédougou, launching the Grand Water Transfer, constructing a new railway line from Dakar to Tambacounda and Kidira, building four new regional hospitals, and realising the Dakar Millennium Centre, a 500-billion-CFA urban project in Ouakam.

Lo closed by positioning institutional, macroeconomic, and social stability as “the needle of the compass” for his action, while calling on all Senegalese to share the effort through tax civism, local consumption, and volunteerism. “This government asks not to be judged on its intentions but on its effectiveness and results,” he declared, promising quarterly execution reviews that he will personally chair.