Ranked " B+/Stable B " in December 2000 by the international firm Standard & Poor's, Senegal has an open and booming economy. Endowed with quality infrastructure, it has a preferential access to West African, European and American markets. Its Investment Code is very attractive and offers incentives.
The economic prospects are good with the Major Projects initiated by the President of the Republic.
The Senegalese economy is opened to the world, Europe, America and Asia. It has major assets and real investment opportunities. These include

• A booming economy
• A preferential access to markets
• An attractive, incentive policy
• Quality infrastructure
• Port of Dakar, a maritime crossroads
• Investment opportunities
  • Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock/Animal Rearing
  • Forestry Exploitation
  • Mining Sector
  • Manufacturing Industries
  • Privatised Energy and Water Sectors
  • Transport
  • Telecommunications
  • Tourism

   

• A booming Economy
  With a "B+/Stable/B" grading: Senegal is the first West African country to accept to be graded by the international firm, Standard & Poor's, in December 2000.
• A stable growth : A real GDP growth rate of over 5% since 1995. Unlike other African countries, Senegal has a very important tertiary sector. It provides over 60% of GDP, 55% of jobs and 37% of exports.
• A low inflation rate : less than 2% inflation rate since 1997.
• Stabilised Public Finances : Over the past few years, the situation found expression in surpluses registered in relation to the UEMOA convergence criteria.
• A fixed exchange rate: the CFA franc is pegged to the French franc at the rate of 1FF:100FCFA and to the Euro at the rate of 1Euro = 655.957CFAF. The CFA franc is managed by the BCEAO. Please see www.bceao.int
• Reduced customs duties: A unique tariff system (referred to as the Common External Tariff (TEC) is in force within the UEMOA since 1999. Thanks to this measure, customs duty decreased on average from 24 to 12%, goods circulate freely within the UEMOA space and are essentially exempted from customs duty, if they are community products.
• Dynamic and booming economic sectors : in 1999, 30% of exports comprised marine products, 14% was phosphates and chemical products and 6.5% was groundnuts and its by-products.
  

A preferential access to markets

• Senegal is committed to regional integration : It is a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), an economic union of eight (8) West African countries : Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Togo, Niger, Senegal. Please visit www.uemoa.int for more details.

• The economic Union has a market of 60 million consumers. It is based on the free movement of persons and goods, a common trade policy, with a Common External Tariff (TEC) and a regional financial market with a Regional Securities Stock Market (BRVM). Visit www.brvm.org

• Senegal is also a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which has a market of 200 million consumers for 16 member States. www.ecowas.org

• Senegal offers an exceptional geographical location with preferential access to European (EU/ACP Agreement) and American (African Growth and Opportunities Act, AGOA) markets ;

• Senegal is eligible under AGOA which aims to :

  Enable firms established in Senegal to benefit from free access to the American market with a virtual exemption of import taxes for all exported products ;

  Enable these same firms to benefit from the American credit and expertise system for business management ;

  Institute summit meetings between the USA and sub-Saharan African countries, in the form of forums on the economy, investments and trade

A motivating and attractive policy
In addition to the " traditional " conditions offered to investors (free repatriation of capital and dividends, no discrimination betwen nationals and foreigners, no limits in the employment of expatriates), the incentives effectively offer :

• Customs duty exoneration for equipment needed to implement investment programmes and tax benefits during the execution phase.
• Additional Tax benefits for SMEs active in the promotion of local resources, or established outside Dakar.
• Additional benefits for industrial and agricultural firms exporting over 80% of their production ; these include :
  1. Customs duty and stamp duty for equipment ;
  2. Income tax exoneration, duty waiver on trade licence, land tax and al other taxes relative to registration and stamps.
  3. Corporate tax fixed at the rate of 15% , etc.
  

Quality infrastructure

• Road network : Senegal has a dense road network which easily services all the country's regions. Road traffic services over 90 % of the population and 70% of the goods.
• Railway : under reconstruction. It services most parts of the country and links Senegal to Mali.
• Airports : Senegal has three (3) international airports : Dakar, Saint-Louis and Cap-Skirring. Other major cities have secondary airports for internal flights.
• Port of Dakar: Dakar has one of the biggest maritime ports in Africa, situated at the intersection of lines linking Europe, South America and Africa. By virtue of Senegal's exceptional geographical position, the Port of Dakar offers direct access at all times, day and night, as well as a stable, well protected deep water RADE???. The highest tides vary between 0.20 and 1.80 metres. A 195 metre channel, perfectly marked out, facilitates access to the 177 hectares of man-made waterway.
• A hi-tech Telecommunications system : Over the past few years, Senegal invested more than any African country in the telecommunications field. In 1994, Senegal was classified at the top of the sub-Saharan African States by the International Telecommunications Union in terms of penetration growth and the quality of its services. In April 1996, Senegal connected to the Internet and services related to the New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) have since been booming.

• The Port of Dakar, a real maritime crossroads
  The port of Dakar, situated on the most extreme part of the West African coast, serves as a hub for many maritime routes between Europe, North and South America, and Sub-Saharan Africa

Position géographique et présentation physique

LeThe Port of Dakar is an appropriate port of call on the Europe-South Africa route and is also at the intersection of the Europe-South America and New York-Cape Town routes. In fact, Dakar is :

· 3400 miles from New York
· 3600 miles from Cape Town
· 2377 miles from le Havre
· 2500 miles from London
· 2800 miles from Rio de Janeiro

The Port of Dakar complex comprises 326 hectares of land (3,260,000 m²), with :
- 10 kilometres of quay facilities
- 40 quay stations for ships with a maximum 11 metre draught
- 177 hectares of man-made waterway
- 80 900 m² of unmarked platform (under customs) for short-term storage
- 170 600 m² of space serving as a container park
- 60 597 m² of covered surfaces.

The Port also has :
§ infrastructure reserved for transit towards countries in the interior (Mali, Burkina Faso).
§ infrastructure for ship repairs with one of the most important ship repairs sites of the West African coast
§ railway infrastructure linked to the national and international railway network comprising two main lines, used for the transportation of passenger and goods :

In the Port of Dakar compound, major firms offer their services to ships involved in both importation and exportation (baggage hold, consignment handling, transit, requests for ports facilities, providing containers, etc.)

Port Activities
The average tariff proposed to freight a 20 feet and 40 feet container to the USA, and Europe are respectively 1.64 million CFAF/2.55 million CFAF and 0.9 million de CFAF/1.85 million CFAF.

In 2000, global traffic increased by 2.4% compared to 1999, and reached 7,367,000 tons. The Port is mainly used by container ships, freighters, roll-on roll-off ships, tankers and fishing vessels.

§ 2205 stops were registered in 2OOO.
§ 11 shipping agencies service the Dakar Port maritime link with Europe with 3 to 12 stopovers per month.
A shipping agency services the Dakar Port maritime link with the USA with about 3 stops per month.

Investsement Opportunies
With its numerous fisheries, agricultural, mining, industrial, tourist resources, the Senegalese economy is open to the world, and to foreign capital in search of safe investment zones. This economy has several diverse and highly dynamic sectors : Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock, Forestry Exploitation, Mining, Manufacturing Industries, Electrical Energy and Water, Transport and Telecommunication and Tourism. .

Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock e
Senegal has a variety of dynamic agricultural sub-sectors : the groundnut sub-sector, the cotton sub-sector, the millet, corn, sorghum and niebé sub-sectors, the rice sub-sector, the horticultural sub-sector and the diversification sub-sectors. Real opportunities exist in the horticultural and market gardening sub-sectors.
The fisheries sub-sector is the key source of export revenue. Its exploitable potential is estimated at 450 000 tons. In 1998, the catch realised in Senegal's exclusive economic zone was evaluated at 445 690 tons, and 408 921 tons were unloaded. It contributes close to 12% of the primary sector GDP. State policy in the fisheries sector is directed towards efforts to increase the value and greater promotion of unloaded products.
nstitutionnel.

Forestry Exploitation
Forestry exploitation is carried out within the framework of annual campaigns from December to July. There are two types of exploitable forestry products : products exploited on the basis of a quota system, whose authorised exploited quantities are defined through a decision (firewood, timber, wood used by craftsmen ; and products without a quota system comprising picked products and crafts articles (fruits, gum, winnowing brooms). In 1994, firewood was removed from the quota system. In addition to their role of protecting and maintaining soil fertility, forestry resources supplies most of the domestic energy and contributes in feeding a substantial part of the population as well as in the pastoral economy.

Mining Sector
The Senegalese sub-soil contains large quantities of phosphates, gold, iron ore, building materials and brown coal (lignite). ICS-CSPT and SSPT are essentially responsible for the industrial exploitation of phosphates. The accumulated calcium phosphate production reached 1366 thousand tons at the end of September 1999 compared to 1087 thousand tons in December 1998, i.e. a 25.7% increase.
The Phosphates of Matam: a deposit of over 40 million tons (28% of P205) situated about 700km from Dakar, along the Senegal River and in a region linked to ther Port of Dakar by a first class national highway entirely covered with tarmac.
Gold: there are many foreign mining companies in the eastern Senegal, near the border with Mali (AGEM, BRGM, ANMERCOSA, RANGOLD ASHANTI, GOLDFIELDS, SAMAX HANSA...)
Iron Ore : resources estimated at over 350 million tons with a 63% iron rate, localised in the South East of the country towards the border with Guinea.
§ Natural Gas : a potential deposit of 3 billion cubic metres in Diamniadio, 60 km from Dakar
§ Marble: reserves estimated at over a million tons of ornamental stones.
§ Oil: huge offshore deposits were recently discovered at the border between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.

Iron Ore : resources estimated at over 350 million tons with a 63% iron rate, localised in the South East of the country towards the border with Guinea.

• Natural Gas : a potential deposit of 3 billion cubic metres in Diamniadio, 60 km from Dakar
• Marble : reserves estimated at over a million tons of ornamental stones.
• Oil : huge offshore deposits were recently discovered at the border between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.
  

Manufacturing Industries
Manufacturing activities are essentially concentrated in Dakar. The food sub-sector has various industrial production units such as flour milling, dairy industry, breweries, canning industry, tobacco, etc. There are also chemical industries for oxygen and acetylene production, for extraction and chemical transformation (production of phosphoric acid and chemical fertilisers) and imported crude oil refining.

Units specialised in soap manufacturing and cosmetics also exist. The country also has a buoyant textile sector with many units, some of which are established outside Dakar, notably in Thies and Kaolack. The plastic industry, the cement making plants and the paper-cardboard industry are quite dynamic and are making progress.

Transports
The Second Transport Sector Programme (TSP2) negotiated with the World Bank and other donors supporting the development of this strategic area was provisionally estimated to cost 581 million US dollars (406 billion CFAF). It covers the period from July 1999 to July 2004 and encompasses all the transport sub-sectors (road, rail, maritime and fluvial, and air transport).

The 1997-2002 investment plan meets the objective of making the Dakar Port conform to the standards of modern ports (in terms of infrastructure and equipment) in order to improve the hourly productivity of the handling services, reduce the costs of passage for ships and goods and have an efficient pre- and post-shipping network. Prior to its adoption, the plan was widely discussed with the Community of Port operators.

Telecommunications
SONATEL has completed the 1999-2003 investment programme worth 200 billion CFAF, providing Senegal with 200 000 connected fixed lines. SONATEL is also pursuing its equipment programme in the rural areas : as of 31 December 1998, 446 villages were connected in accordance with the specifications and conditions of contract, and 77 villages are in the process of being connected.

300 new villages are expected to be fully equipped at the end of 2000 . SONATEL has confirmed its position as leader in the sub-region and pursues its advances in the mobile telephone market that has been liberalised. The development of New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) is being pursued in Senegal, with the emergence of new SMEs providing services in this sector.

Tourism

In 1999, Senegal registered 501,695 visitors and revenue amounting to 101,4 billion CFAF was collected from tourism. The average daily expenses for a tourist (regardless of reasons of visit) was estimated at 69 044 CFAF. The country's reception capacities, in 1999, was estimated at 17586 beds for 245 tourist accommodation structures, i.e. a slight increase of 02.6% compared to 1998. These structures are found in the three major Senegalese regions : Dakar (35%), Thies (26%), Ziguinchor (21,7%).

In 1999, 420 022 arrivals were registered in these accommodation structures against 392 505 in 1998, indicating an increase of 7 %. Out of these, 369 116 were non-residents in 1999 as against 352 389 in 1998.