“The Senegalese economy is characterized by: (i)a decline in the primary sector based on agriculture weakened by the deterioration of the natural, economic and institutional environment, (ii) an embryonic industrial base, and (iii) a bloated service sector dominated by trade, construction, and informal services. Weak growth drivers is a major problem, as the country needs to manage its demographic transition and will have to meet the challenges of employment, upgrade its basic infrastructure (transport, energy, housing, etc.) and its education and health systems. Senegal is characterized by macrocephaly in its capital, which comprises 22% of the population, and a strong regional imbalance in terms of population, with the majority of the population concentrated on the coastal fringe, the country remains, however, still largely rural and should remain so over the next two decades. The development of the rural economy and agriculture will be instrumental in the political management of major economic and social balances. The current process of urbanization, which is not accompanied by job creation at the height of the demographic trends, accentuating regional imbalances, generates inefficiencies and high internal stresses. The briefing note no.2 taken from the RuralStruc study lists a number of issues which the government will have to find solutions for./ L’economie Senegalaises est caracterisee par (i)un secteur primaire en declin reposant sur une agriculture affaiblie par la deterioration de son environnement naturel, economique et institutionnel; (ii) un tissue industriel embryonnaire; et (iii) un secteur tertiare hypertrophie, domine par le commerce, le BTP, et les services informels. La faiblesse des moteurs de croissance est un probleme majeur, alors que le pays doit gerer sa transition demographique et va devoir relever les defis de l’emploi, de la mise a niveau de ses infrastructures de base (transport, energie, logement, etc.) et de ses systemes d’education et de sante. Le Senegal se distingue par la macrocephalie de ca capitale, qui regroupe 22% de la population, et par un fort desequilibre territorial en termes de peuplement, avec la majorite de la population concentree sur la frange cotiere. Le pays rest cependant encore majoritairement rural et devrait le rester au cours des deux prochaines decennies. L’evolution de l’economie rurale, et bien evidemment celle de l’agriculture, sera ainsi determinante dans la gestion politique des grands equilibres economiques et sociaux.”
