Senegal’s president on Monday named a senior economist as prime minister after sacking his estranged former mentor in a shock move, saying the new appointee had the expertise to steer the west African country out of crippling debt.
Senegal is mired in a deep political crisis after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Friday sacked the popular Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the government after months of tensions.
Former central banker Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo, who worked at the Central Bank of West African States, knows “the inner workings of the economy and finance”, a decree on Monday announcing his appointment said.
Senegal is labouring under a huge debt burden amounting to 132 percent of GDP. When Faye and Sonko came to power in 2024, they accused former president Macky Sall’s government of hiding a part of the debt, leading to the suspension of a $1.8 billion IMF aid programme it had agreed in 2023.
“Senegal is a safe and viable country and intends to remain so,” Lo said, referring to the country’s “difficult financial situation” in his first statement after his appointment.
“This is not a change of direction but of method,” he said, citing integrity and transparency and “economic and cultural sovereignty” — all of which Sonko had espoused.
Senegal’s parliament is due to decide Tuesday whether to appoint Sonko as speaker — a move that enraged the opposition which likened it to a coup.
Faye essentially owes his position to Sonko, his one time mentor who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the last presidential election due to a defamation conviction.
The two men have fallen out in recent months as Senegal battles public debt. Faye wants to discuss a new aid programme with the IMF, while Sonko prefers a domestic, sovereigntist approach.
Their Pastef party won outright in the first round of 2024 elections promising political reform with both men vowing to fight corruption and revive a floundering economy.
