Addressing the National Assembly in an extraordinary session on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Prime Minister Ahmadou Alhaminou Mohamed Lo delivered his General Policy Declaration (DPG), as required by Article 55 of the Constitution. The statement came 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 for the Senegal 2050 Agenda, the Prime Minister began by asserting continuity with his predecessor, Ousmane Sonko, who has since become President of the National Assembly. “Nothing changes, the course will be maintained,” he insisted, reaffirming the seven breaks outlined in the previous DPG and the “Senegal 2050” framework as the only compass. Only the method will evolve, he clarified, based on six principles: prioritize, finance differently, execute, measure, dialogue, and report.
The Prime Minister offered an unflinching assessment of public finances. Consolidated public sector debt stood at about 132% of GDP at the end of 2024, or more than 23,500 billion CFA francs, with a deficit revised to 13.7% of GDP. In 2025, growth excluding hydrocarbons was limited to 2.2%, and the budget deficit to 6.4%. This situation, he said, was aggravated by the outbreak of war in February 2026 between Iran, the United States, and Israel, leading to five successive downgrades of the sovereign rating by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.
Ahmadou Alhaminou Lo confirmed that a technical agreement had been reached on September 1, 2026, with the International Monetary Fund’s services on a new program focused on investment and transparency, stressing that no conditionality exceeds commitments already made under the “Diomaye Président” program. He also detailed a Senegal Debt Treatment Plan (PTDS), announced on September 1 and “almost finalized,” aiming to extend maturities and reduce the average cost of debt, with support from the IMF, the World Bank, and official creditors. Clearing payment 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 reducing the price of electricity per kilowatt-hour by 30% by 2030. He set an objective of covering one million poor and vulnerable households with a social safety net by 2027, with the budget allocation doubled to 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 issues: ongoing investigations into events between February 2021 and February 2024, the review of mining and oil contracts, land audits on the coast and state domain, and the Yakaar-Teranga gas field case, 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 “catalytic” projects was presented as structuring for the decade: development of the Yakaar-Teranga gas field, a national gas network, modernization of refining (SAR 2), the Kédougou mining hub, the Grand Water Transfer, a new Dakar-Tambacounda-Kidira railway line, four new regional hospitals, and the Dakar Millenium Center, a 500 billion CFA franc urban project in Ouakam.
Ahmadou Alhaminou Lo concluded by placing institutional, macroeconomic, and social stability as “the needle of the compass” for 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 results,” he declared, promising quarterly execution reviews that he will chair himself.
