France agreed to provide a total of $156 million in financing to support Senegal. This follows the signing of ten agreements on June 30 between the African country and the French Development Agency (AFD).

The new deals mainly target the health, public finance, local development, education, water, electricity, and transport sectors. Part of the money will also be used to support small and medium-sized enterprises. The fight against the coronavirus will also receive a support of $86.6 million.

This funding comes at a time when the country has announced the lifting of its state of health emergency and a strengthening of the pandemic response structure through the recruitment of new health professionals in the coming months. A total of 6,793 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Senegal, resulting in 112 deaths and 4,431 recoveries.

According to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS), part of the funding will be allocated to three other projects in the justice and waste management sectors, while grants will support projects in the digital and sports sectors in particular.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou