Olabisi Ogunjobi, vice-president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) group in charge of west and central operations and microfinance, and Abdoulaye Diop, minister of finance of Senegal, have signed a loan agreement amounting to 24mn units of account (UA), equivalent to US$35.67mn, to finance the Private Sector Adjustment Support Programme (PSASP) in Senegal.

At the signing ceremony Ogunjobi commended Senegal for embarking on the quarterly review of the bank’s portfolio in order to improve the performances of the institution’s interventions in Senegal.

In his response, Diop expressed his appreciation aver the record time in which the loan was negotiated and signed. “We count very much on this project, he added, to improve the business environment in Senegal and to make our private sector more competitive.”

The Private Sector Adjustment Support Programme, whose funding was approved by the board of directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) on December 10, 2003 is made up of reforms that would create an enabling environment for the development of the private sector and by so doing assist in the attainment of economic growth that meets the poverty reduction goals envisaged by the government in the domain.

At the macroeconomic level, the reforms are expected to enable Senegal raise the investment rate to 22% (with the private sector accounting for 16%) capable of yielding returns that would lift and consolidate growth rates upwards of 6% in 2003-04 and beyond.

The bank group’s operations in Senegal commenced in 1972. To date, total commitments of the group in Senegal amount to US$813mn on 59 operations.