Senegal

Investing in Senegal

FDI in figures | Why you should choose to invest in Senegal | Procedures relative to foreign investment | Finding assistance for further information

FDI in figures

The French FDI have historically been the most important but started declining towards the end of the 90s. Senegal has a proactive policy towards FDI. Towards the end of the 90s, there was a boom in FDI in Senegal with more than 175M USD being invested in 1997. In the past few years, the FDI has remained between 50 and 70M USD per year after a fall at the beginning of the year 2000.

The amount of FDI increased to 54M USD in 2005.

Foreign Direct Investment	2005	2006	2007
FDI inward flow (millions USD)	45	220	78
FDI stock (millions USD)	358	477	555
Performance Index*, ranking on 141 economies	122	128	120
Potential Index**, ranking on 141 economies	116	122	-
Number of Greenfield investments***	2	5	4
FDI inwards (in % of GFCF****)	2.0	9.1	2.7
FDI stock (in % of GDP)	4.2	5.1	5.0

Source: UNCTAD

Note: * The UNCTAD Inward FDI Performance index is based on a ratio of the country's share in global FDI inflows and its share in global GDP. ** The UNCTAD Inward FDI Potential index is based on 12 economic and structural variables such as GDP, foreign trade, FDI, infrastructures, energy use, R&D, education, country risk. *** Green field investments are a form of foreign direct investment where a parent company starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operational facilities from the ground up. **** Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) measures the value of additions to fixed assets purchased by business, government and households less disposals of fixed assets sold off or scrapped.

Why you should choose to invest in Senegal

Strong points: - A stable and open country
- A healthy and competitive economy
- Quality of human resources
- A reformed legal and fiscal framework
- A privileged access to regional and international markets
- An exceptional quality of life
Weak points: - Weak productivity of companies
- Weak diversity of activities
- A bad state of the infrastructure
Government measures to motivate or restrict FDI: The Senegalese government has put into place various measures to encourage investment. Given below are some of the measures:
- Increased protection for investments
- An improvement in the promotion for investment
- Taking into consideration priority sectors
- Delivering license certificates in 10 days
- Respect of the rules of the Environmental Code
For more information, visit the website of the Agency for the promotion of investment in Senegal.

Procedures relative to foreign investment

Freedom of establishment: There is a great amount of freedom of investing in Senegal in all the sectors: agribusiness, textiles, new technologies, fisheries, tourism mining. Foreign companies and investors have the same possibilities.
Acquisition of holdings: Foreigners can have a 100% stake in a company.
Obligation to declare: The World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) in the country gives information on the authorizations required for setting up an establishment.
Competent organization for the declaration: Agency for promotion of investments in Senegal
Requests for specific authorizations: Specific authorizations required in the country can be consulted at the Agency for the promotion of foreign investments.