KEEPING COSTS DOWN, A GUARANTEE FOR INVESTORS Senegal has not only risen in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” ranking, but it has also developed fiscal and legal incentives for investors, as well as attractive establishment conditions, guarantees based on a reasonable (and stable) cost of living, and business operating costs that have been published by the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning.
CONSUMPTION: MAJOR TRENDS IN THE 2020 COST OF LIVING In a context marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and despite a drop in demand, the cost of food on the international market rose during the first few months of 2020. During this same period the FAO (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization) index showed a 0.9% increase in food prices mainly due to a acost increase of 5.2% for dairy products, 2.2% concerns grain crops, 5.4% for sugar and 4.8% for oil. As for Senegal, data from ANSD (National Agency for Statistics and Demography) showed that consumer prices went down by a slight 0.7% between October 2019 and the end of March 2020 thanks to a drop in the price of local products, but did not go down more since the price of imported
products went up. Looking at the major trends in the cost of living in Senegal, the cost of food products and non-alcoholic beverages fell between October 2019 and the end of March 2020 (-1.7 %) because of the drop in the price of fresh produce thanks to an abundant supply. On the other hand, these prices rose by 2.1% from year to year due to the price increase of fats, legumes and oil seeds, unprocessed grain and pork. In terms of annual variation, prices for housing goods and services, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose by 0.9%. This is largely explained by the significant increase in the price of electricity (+5.8%). Again in terms of annual variations, the price increase for passenger transport services, especially by road (+1.4%) and by air (+5.2 %) is very closely connected to the increase in fuel
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