Senegal experienced a minor decline in 2025 concerning the implementation of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) community reforms, policies, programs, and projects. This occurred despite authorities generally deeming the overall results satisfactory.

The political phase of the 11th Annual Review of UEMOA’s community reforms, policies, programs, and projects, hosted in Senegal, officially reported an average implementation rate of 76.45% for 2025. This marks a decrease of 2.14 percentage points from the 78.59% recorded in 2024. This year’s assessment encompassed 145 reforms, an increase from 132 in the previous cycle.

These findings were unveiled at the conclusion of discussions involving Senegalese state officials and the UEMOA Commission. The meeting was chaired by Minister of Finance and Budget, Cheikh Diba, alongside Abdoulaye Diop, President of the UEMOA Commission.

According to Minister Diba, this downturn is primarily attributable to observed declines in the execution of reforms related to economic governance and convergence, which fell by 1.3 percentage points, as well as in sectoral reforms, registering a significant drop of 6.03 points. Nevertheless, progress within the common market, showing an increase of 0.91 points, helped mitigate the overall negative performance.

The minister further clarified that the challenges in economic governance and convergence were largely due to the delayed submission of the 2024 report from the Single Window for Financial Statements Deposit (GUDEF) to the UEMOA Commission during the technical review phase.

Despite this overall regression, several sectors demonstrated positive advancements. Notable progress was made in harmonizing the legal, accounting, and statistical frameworks for public finances, with an increase of 1.83 percentage points. The customs union saw a gain of 4.55 points, while the agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and environment sectors collectively rose by 2.12 points. Human and social development recorded a substantial increase of 6.58 points, and the energy and mining sectors advanced by 3.33 points.

Cheikh Diba highlighted that the most significant achievements within structural reforms were particularly evident in culture, tourism, crafts, quality standards, and the business climate.

Commitments announced to correct the trajectory

For the Minister of Finance and Budget, these results necessitate focused attention and immediate corrective actions. The Senegalese government is therefore committed to implementing the necessary measures to consolidate existing achievements, enhance performance, and progressively address the identified shortcomings.

He emphasized that considerable efforts are still required, particularly in finalizing document validation processes, providing essential supporting documents, and ensuring the effective execution and monitoring of community programs and projects.

The political phase of this review successfully validated the outcomes from the technical phase and reinforced the commitment of the Senegalese administration and its highest authorities to the application of community reforms.

Cheikh Diba believes that, despite the remaining room for improvement, these results align with a broader positive trend observed across UEMOA member states, where significant strides have also been made in implementing reforms.

The minister reiterated that, for Senegal, strengthening regional integration remains a paramount priority. In this context, the conclusions of this political phase will be presented to Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko during an audience he will grant to the President of the UEMOA Commission.