A sharing workshop was organized on Tuesday, January 3, 2022 in Senegal by the Ministry of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and SMEs. This workshop focused on the recommendations resulting from the preparatory work of the consultations on improving access to finance for SMEs.

Present at the meeting last Tuesday, the national director of the BCEAO Ahmadou Al Amine Lo announced that 04 SMEs have received financing, with an outstanding amount of 350 billion FCFA compared with around 250 billion in 2019, representing an increase of 32% year-on-year. According to Amine Lo, a peak in funding of around 600 billion CFA francs was recorded in March 2022. For him, food sovereignty cannot be achieved without the contribution of SMEs, SMEs and even the informal sector.

The BCEAO National Director also announced that the gap to be bridged in this area is significant given Senegal's trade deficit in terms of external transactions involving everyday food products.