Present at the BIG 2025 trade show, a major global innovation event organized by Bpifrance, Senegalese Minister of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation Abdourahmane Sarr addressed an audience of decision-makers, investors, and business figures. Seneweb, which covered the event, recalls a dense and uncompromising speech, marked by a call for clarity and the structural transformation of African economies.

Truth as a requirement

From the outset, the minister set the framework for his speech by invoking the need to tell the truth. "There is indeed a virtue that we sometimes lack in our economic and political debates: the truth," he declared. He recalled that "Africa is at a crossroads with two major challenges, population growth and urbanization," adding straightforward figures: "half of the Senegalese population is under 19 years old" and "urbanization, estimated at 55% in 2023, is projected to reach 65% in 2050."

Illusions to abandon

The minister then listed what he called illusions that had hampered the continent's economic maturation. "We have sometimes harbored illusions and ignored realities," he said, before successively stating "the illusion that external debt could indefinitely support growth," "the illusion that foreign aid would replace our efforts at organization and productivity," and "the illusion that we could distribute before producing, urbanize without planning."

Sarr insisted on the idea that misrepresenting the problem leads to bad solutions, recalling that "a problem without a solution is a problem poorly posed," then publicly questioning "What is the truth about this African problem?"

Trust as the key to financing

Returning to the theme of financing, he rejected any simplistic view. "Financing development is not just about finding money, because in reality, there is enough money," he insisted. The condition for mobilizing these resources, he said, lies in a climate of trust. He detailed the required forms of this trust, stringing together brief and powerful statements: "citizens' trust when their taxes are used well," "investors' trust when the rules are clear and stable," "partners' trust when commitments are respected," and "financiers' trust when projects are carried out well."

He also recalled that macroeconomic discipline constitutes a precious capital, stating that "macroeconomic discipline is our first capital" and emphasizing that "without monetary confidence, there is no sustainable financing."

A model intended to be pragmatic and sovereign

Addressing the role of the state and the market in transformation, Abdourahmane Sarr defended a nuanced position. "The state cannot do everything, and only economic freedom unleashes creative energy," he explained, before specifying that the role of the state must be that of an enlightened organizer and not a brake on initiative. From this reflection was born the expression he developed at length: "structuring sovereignist liberalism." He described this concept as "sovereignist because it places primary responsibility on our own institutions and our peoples," "liberal because it believes in the power of private initiative and economic inclusion," and "structuring because it requires clear state planning."

Human capabilities and reinvented cooperation

To make the transformation possible, the minister called for concrete choices. "Finally, we need massive investment in human capital. Only in this way will we be able to capture the demographic dividend linked to the growth of the African population, particularly its youth," he said. He also argued that deficient infrastructure can attract private capital if it is properly organized. "Africa's infrastructure deficit is enormous, and yet users are willing to pay, and therefore to remunerate private capital. We must organize its arrival in localities."

Sarr called for a redefinition of international cooperation in these clear and direct terms: "Cooperation must go beyond the logic of aid. It must be based on mutually beneficial partnerships where private investment sees not only a consumer market but a territory of innovation, export and competitiveness."

Three dividends to capture

Throughout his speech, the minister summarized the strategic objective in three concise phrases that he invited the audience to remember: "the democratic dividend, the demographic dividend, and the density dividend." He concluded by affirming that these truths require courageous political and economic choices, emphatically repeating, "the truth is demanding, but fruitful."

Abdourahmane Sarr's speech sparked numerous reactions among participants and opened up a vital space for debate on how to finance the continent's transformation while preserving sovereignty and social cohesion.