Senegal - Future trends

Like many African countries and developing nations, Senegal enters the 21st century with deep-seated economic difficulties. Several economic plans and strategies that have been pursued by the Senegalese government since independence have failed to generate sustained economic development. Mass unemployment, continued dependence on agricultural exportation for foreign revenue, a widening trade deficit, and chronic poverty continue to characterize the Senegalese economic situation. The recent emphasis on privatization and free-market competition has thus far failed to break the pattern. Structural adjustment plans have helped to contain macro-economic instability (in the form of inflation ), but they have not improved the impoverished conditions of the masses. Structural adjustment and the emphasis on the free-market has created greater inequality and increased hardship for the poor.

However, the situation in Senegal is not entirely bleak. On the political front, the victory of a Democratic Party candidate in the 2000 presidential elections indicated that Senegal might be progressing toward a more open and less authoritarian democracy. Economically, the various regional integration schemes developed in West Africa may provide an impetus for Senegal and other West African nations to experience economic growth. By providing preferential access to member states, such regional schemes can cushion West African nations against competition from the more competitive outside world.