Senegal Political System

According to Countryaah.com, with capital city of Dakar, Senegal is a country located in Western Africa with total population of 16,743,938.

Where is Senegal

Following the Constitution of 1963, amended in 2001, Senegal is a unified state and approximately a democratic republic. The head of state, the president, is elected from the 2007 general elections for five years with the possibility of one re-election. He heads the executive and is a military commander. The prime minister and the other government are appointed by the president and in practice are primarily responsible to him. Legislative authority has been added to the National Assembly. It has 120 members who are elected in the general election for five years. Both the president and the assembly can initiate legislation, but all laws must be sanctioned by the president. The country has a multi-party system. According to African conditions, Senegal has a stable system of government, despite tensions of ideological, religious, personal and regional character.

Land area 196,722 km²
Total population 15,736,368
Residents per km² 80
Capital Dakar
Official language French
Income per capita 3,500 USD
Currency CFA Franc BCEAO
ISO 3166 code SN
Internet TLD .sn
License plate SN
Telephone code +221
Time zone UTC ± 0
Geographic coordinates 14 00 N, 14 00 W.

Administrative division

Senegal is divided into ten regions as well as the metropolitan area, each headed by a state-appointed governor and an elected council. Furthermore, there are ministries, headed by prefects, and district ministries, led by sub-prefects. There is also chosen advice at the lower levels. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for how SG can stand for Senegal.

Judiciary

The Senegalese judiciary is characterized by French law and is relatively independent. The supreme judicial bodies consist of a constitutional court, a minister of state, a court of Cassation and a court of appeal.

Economy

The primary sector, which contributes to the formation of GDP to the extent of 20%, remains the pivot of the economy. The dominant activity is agriculture, which employs nearly three quarters of the active population. The crops whose vegetative cycle coincides with the short rainy season predominate. The distribution and types of crops are closely linked to the amount of rainfall and their seasonal distribution. In the northern part of the country, crops are particularly exposed to the risks of irregular rainfall and drought. Other types of traditional agriculture are those that depend on the flooding of the lowlands in the southern wetlands, cultivated with rice, and those practiced after the withdrawal of flood waters, mainly along the course of the Senegal River. A non-traditional form of agriculture is irrigation,

Agriculture plays an essential role, both in providing for the nation’s food needs and in the contribution it makes to the balance of payments. Most farmers combine commercial harvests (peanuts, cotton, horticultural products) with the production of grains (sorghum, millet, rice) for food, to varying degrees depending on the climate. The cultivation of peanuts (820,600 t in 2005), which in the past represented the most important commercial crop, has already been in sharp decline for some decades, both due to the fall in the price on the world market and due to climatic difficulties. In 2001 peanuts have contributed to the total value of exports to the extent of ‘ 11%. The forestry heritage, which covers 20 % of the country’s land area, is also in a phase of rapid deterioration, due to periods of drought which sometimes last for several years in a row, as well as the growing anthropogenic pressure and the consequent increase in need for firewood.

The fishing sector (448,271 tonnes of fish in 2003) ranks first in exports, despite being adversely affected by the high costs of industrial fishing and the loss of French market share due to Asian competition. The production of phosphates (1,800,000 t in 2005), mostly coming from the Taiba fields, contributes to forming 16 % of the value of exports.

The industrial sector (20 % of GDP and 12 % of the workforce) is represented by light industries based on the transformation of agricultural products of local origin. Of particular note are the peanut processing industry and the textile industry, which mainly produces for the domestic market, based on the ginning and spinning of cotton. The only notable heavy industries are a refinery and chemical and petrochemical complex in Dakar-M’Bao, as well as a plant that produces fertilizers by processing imported sulfur and internally produced phosphates. The industrial activities are characterized by a high geographical concentration (90 % of the factories are located in the Dakar area).

Tourism is still an underdeveloped sector, despite the government’s efforts to make hotel infrastructures available to European tourists with the help of foreign investors. In trade with foreign countries, France is in first place both among the recipient countries of exports (22 %) and among those from which imports originate (36 %).

The first two decades after independence (1960) were characterized by massive state intervention in the economy and by growth strategies based on import substitution. Since the eighties of 20° sec. the Senegal has undertaken a series of adjustment programs to consolidate public finances and to reduce dependence on financial aid from abroad, with not entirely satisfactory results. In more recent years, the Senegal has made substantial progress in implementing a program of economic reforms, even though the economy remains fragile and poverty is still widespread. Considerable efforts have been made, with the substantial contribution of international financial institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund) to reduce external debt, which is equivalent to more than two thirds of the state GDP.

Since 2000 the Senegal has been connected by fiber optic cables to both Europe and South America, resulting in a rapid development of services that are based on information technologies.