African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a £108.36 million loan to finance the Industrial Acceleration, Competitiveness and Employment Support Programme (PAAICE) in Senegal.
The PAAICE project is designed to support economic recovery, acceleration of industrialisation and job creation in the West African country.
The project, according to the bank, is expected to improve the competitiveness of value chains, productivity and the adoption of material and organisational technologies.
It is also expected to increase access to finance and private sector development.
According to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a key driver of growth in the Senegalese economy as they account for 90 percent of businesses and 42 percent of total employment in the francophone country.
Data from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) shows that SMEs in Senegal have limited access to resources, information and finance.
‘The programme is structured around the four pillars: strengthening the competitiveness of the private sector; improve access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises; stimulate productivity gains and access to technology; and promote private investment’, AfDB said in a statement.
‘The programme will benefit project leaders, very small- and medium-sized enterprises, self-entrepreneurs, including actors in the informal sector, who represent more than 90 [percent] of the Senegalese economic fabric, and a large part of whom are young people and women’.
According to the Borjen Project, with youth unemployment rate at 8.2 percent in 2019, young people in Senegal either end up unemployed or in the informal job sector where wages are low.
‘This is a programme focused on strong results that accelerate the development of the private sector and key dimensions of competitiveness’, Managing Director of the AfDB for West Africa, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, said.
The project is part of the overall framework of the post-Covid-19 recovery of the Senegalese economy.
‘It is perfectly consistent with the infrastructure projects financed by the bank to support the competitiveness and regional integration of Senegal’, the representative of the AfDB in Senegal, Mohamed Cherif, said.
The financial support from the bank consists of two loans – £96.1 million from the AfDB, and £12.26 million from the African Development Fund.
The PAAICE project is scheduled to run until 2025.
Source: AfDB
Photo source: Vincent Trémeau/AFD
