A man wearing a facial mask is seen out of a pharmacy in Dakar, Senegal, April 3, 2020. As of Friday, Senegal has reported 207 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Among them, one passed away, but a total number of 66 patients have been cured, the highest in West Africa so far. (Photo by Eddy Peters/Xinhua)
DAKAR, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Senegalese President Macky Sall on Friday announced measures to deal with the economic impact caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, as he predicted the country's economic growth would drop from 6.8 percent to less than 3 percent.
"Sectors such as tourism, hotels, catering, transport, trade, culture, and public works, among others are badly affected. Our sustained economic growth over several years is brutally slowed and will drop from 6.8 percent to less than 3 percent," Sall said in his speech to the nation on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Independence of Senegal.
Facing the coronavirus emergency, Sall said he had set up an Economic and Social Resilience Program to strengthen the health system and support households, businesses and their employees.
The program will provide the health sector with 64.4 billion Francs CFA (about 10 million U.S. dollars) to cover all expenses related to the response to COVID-19.
The government will pay the electricity bills of some 975,522 households for six months, which would cost about 15.5 billion Francs CFA, and spend about three billion Francs CFA on the water bills of 670,000 households.
The government will also allocate 69 billion Francs CFA to purchase food for one million eligible households, he added.
He said the government will safeguard macroeconomic and financial stability to support the private sector and maintain jobs through a liquidity injection program with fiscal and customs reduction measures.
The program will also guarantee the country's supply of hydrocarbons, medical products, pharmaceuticals, and basic necessities, Sall said.
Senegal on Friday reported 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the country's total to 207, among which 84 are imported cases.
