Senegal’s implementation of UEMOA’s communal reforms, policies, and initiatives experienced a modest regression in 2025 despite authorities’ overall satisfaction with progress. The 11th annual review of these initiatives, held in Senegal, revealed an average implementation rate of 76.45% in 2025, down from 78.59% in 2024—a decline of 2.14 percentage points. This year’s assessment covered 145 reforms compared to 132 in the previous evaluation.

The findings were presented following discussions between Senegalese state officials and the UEMOA Commission, chaired by Finance and Budget Minister Cheikh Diba alongside UEMOA Commission President Abdoulaye Diop.

The decrease in performance stems primarily from setbacks in economic governance and convergence reforms, which dropped by 1.3 percentage points, and sectoral reforms, which declined by 6.03 points. This underperformance was partially offset by gains in the common market, where progress increased by 0.91 points.

Minister Cheikh Diba attributed the challenges in economic governance and convergence to delays in submitting the 2024 financial reporting data from the Single Window for Financial Statements (GUDEF) to the UEMOA Commission during the technical review phase.

Despite the overall decline, several sectors demonstrated positive momentum. Legal, accounting, and public finance statistical harmonization improved by 1.83 points. The customs union advanced by 4.55 points, while agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and environmental sectors saw a 2.12-point increase. Human and social development gained 6.58 points, and energy and mining sectors progressed by 3.33 points.

The most significant strides in structural reforms were noted in culture, tourism, crafts, quality standards, and the business climate.

Commitments made to realign progress

Minister Cheikh Diba emphasized that these results demand immediate corrective measures. The Senegalese government has pledged to implement necessary actions to consolidate achievements, enhance performance, and gradually address identified gaps.

He highlighted the need for continued efforts in finalizing document validations, providing supporting evidence, and executing and monitoring communal programs and projects.

The political phase of the review validated technical results and reinforced the commitment of Senegalese administration and top authorities to implement communal reforms.

Despite existing margins for improvement, Cheikh Diba noted that these results align with a broader trend observed across UEMOA member states, where significant progress has also been made in reform implementation.

The minister stressed that consolidating regional integration remains a top priority for Senegal. In this context, the conclusions from the political phase will be presented to Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko during an upcoming meeting with the UEMOA Commission president.