AfDB approves $62.5mn loan to Senegal to support PAMRER I

A loan of around 62.5 million euros has been approved by the African Development Bank to Senegal recently with an objective to support the first phase of the Program for Supporting Resource Mobilization and Reform Effectiveness (PAMRER I) .

The main objective of this first phase of the program is to increase state revenue, mobilize internal resources and improve the tax base, implement programs and strategic projects for investments. hus, the PAMRER I is part of a series of three programmatic institutional budget support and reform support operations whose objective is to support the General Directorate of Taxes and Domains of Senegal (DGID) on three major axes. . It is essentially the modernization of the tax administration, the fight against tax evasion and the improvement of tax policy through a series of studies on sectors.

With the Senegal Emerging Plan (PSE), Senegal intends to position itself on new growth paths. In fact, PAMRER I is aligned with two operational priorities of the Bank's Ten Year Strategy 2013-2022: Private Sector Development and Strengthening Governance. The program contributes to two of the Bank's operational priorities (High 5) such as "improving the quality of life of Africans" and "industrialization of Africa". According to African Development Bank (AfDB), PAMRER is also in line with the dialogue objectives set out in the 2016-2020 Country Strategy Paper on Resource Mobilization and the Bank's Governance Strategy (GAP II 2014-2018).

"Despite the fact that Senegal enjoys political stability today, the fight against international tax evasion is a major concern for the Senegalese government, given its industrial and oil ambitions," insisted Abdoulaye Coulibaly, director of the project. The growth rate of GDP has increased from an average of 3.3 percent over 2009-2013 to remain above 6 percent since 2015. It is 6.7 percent in 2018. This growth is mainly the dynamism of all productive sectors and the consolidation of investment projects implemented under the first PES Priority Action Plan. Thus, socio-economic performance remains broadly satisfactory.

The program is a continuation of the effort to make a substantial contribution to the implementation of the ESP by supporting reforms. In particular, those aimed at improving tax administration in relation to the Doing Business index, from 48.08 points in 2018 to 50 points in 2022; to broaden the tax base from 15.3 percent of GDP in 2018 to 20 percent in 2023 and thus enhance the attractiveness of the country as an investment destination by increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by 3 percent of GDP in 2018 to 6 percent in 2022.