Senegal President Unveils New Cabinet, Retains Finance Chief

(Bloomberg) -- Senegal’s President Macky Sall retained key allies, including the finance and economy ministers, as he announced a new cabinet Sunday.

Abodulaye Diallo retained the post of finance minister, according to a statement from a presidency spokesman on state broadcaster RTS. Sall also kept Amadou Hott as economy minister, a post he held in the previous cabinet. Sophie Gladima, who previously served as mining minister, was named minister of petroleum and energy, replacing Mouhamadou Makhtar Cisse, who held the post since January 2019.

Sall dissolved the cabinet in a surprise move Wednesday as part of a bid to firm up the team that will manage the country’s economic recovery following the pandemic. The new cabinet has 33 ministers and the earlier dissolution came about 18 months after Sall was reelected to a second term.

Hott said Senegal may face a recession this year as the economy is expected to contract by 0.7%, down from 6.8% a year earlier.

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