An Interview with L.O. Moubarack

L.O. Moubarack is a well-known Senegalese economist, participating in the national and International debate on economic issues trough the media and research at the university.

He worked with the government of Senegal (adviser in charge of economic strategy and private sector development) and with several international organisations dealing with macro-economic policy. He is author of the book « Le Sénégal émergent : agenda pour le futur » and comments on economic issues in the his blog hosted by the French newspaper Le Monde: www.moubaracklo.blog.lemonde.fr

What is IDA's most significant contribution to Senegal's development?

IDA’s impact is particularly important in the area of sectoral programs. Earlier, Senegal used to develop only individual projects lacking both coherence and effectiveness in correcting the constraints faced by the economy. Sectoral programs, developed gradually in every sector, allowed the establishment of integrated frameworks gathering all donor support and defining strategic actions, including clear budgeting and timing.

How is IDA best positioned to make this contribution? What is IDA comparative advantage in a country like Senegal?

IDA has the unique advantage of combining analysis and financing. It is therefore well positioned to lead many of the sectoral programs. Its long experience in developing countries, in Africa in particular, allowed IDA to bring to the table the best available practices from all around the world.
IDA is pragmatic - it is result-oriented in its dialogue with the government and tackles problems piece by piece in order to solve them, but not over-compromising: it is perceived by civil society, the press and the private sector as a strong partner requesting reforms who points clearly the shortcomings of the government.

How have things changed since 2000?

 Progress has been made on developing an institutional framework for investment promotion. I note also that an accelerated growth strategy has been prepared and is ready to be implemented. And sectoral programs have been pursued.

On the negative side, the quality of the policy dialogue with donors has declined and also the dialogue between the government and the private sector. Corruption practices have been on the rise, and national press reports regularly cases of corruption, some of which have recently been confirmed by the official Cour des Comptes. Some very important reforms have been postponed, including one related to the public procurement system, and the management of the public administration has been very informal.

At the same time, deindustrialization is in under way, due to the absence of industrial policy and an attitude of benign neglect from the government, doing little to find solutions to the problems faced, in particular, by the Industries Chimiques du Senegal (ICS, chemical industrial sector, the biggest Senegalese company). Agriculture is still declining, because of the erratic policies being followed. By proposing a new crop or a new strategy every year to the farmers, the government gives unclear signals. Consequently, the rural exodus is accelerating, which could generate a lack of labour force on farms, extensive pressure on the social infrastructures and rampant poverty in the urban areas.

What are the two or three challenges that most require international support?

Till now, the structural adjustment programs and the poverty reduction strategy have had little impact on job creation, giving to the population mixed or negative impression about the real impact of these programs. This perception has the potential of reducing the support for reforms.

The main challenge is then to put in place more job content in the reforms, in order to promote the creation of thousands of new jobs for the growing number of young people, in urban and rural areas.

Is the formal sector, the Accelerated Growth Strategy (AGS), well implemented, could facilitate the establishment of new domestic and foreign firms.

In the informal sector, rural and urban, there is need for a real strategy similar to the AGS of the formal sector. This strategy could include components aimed at raising  informal sector productivity through training, finance and advice.

Finally, vocational training should receive more consideration in the education program, notably trough more resource allocation.