Senegal to get $800m in financial aid

Senegal, which is awaiting the official visit by U.S. President Barack Obama late this month, is looking forward to 800 million U.S. dollars in financial aid for the 2010-2015 period. The information was released on Tuesday in the Senegalese capital Dakar by Senegal's Economy and Finance Minister Amadou Kane, who was speaking in a review of the cooperation program with the United States. "The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been in Senegal since 1961, injected over 650 billion FCFA (1. 3 billion dollars) in the country. The bilateral program of our cooperation is one of the most important for Senegal," the Senegalese minister said. According to the minister, the volume of USAID's subsidies in Senegal rose to over 52 billion FCFA (104 million dollars) in 2012. The subsidy largely took into account priorities in the area of economic and social development. "The U. S. agency helped the Senegalese government in the education sector, allocating the sector 10 percent of its annual resources," Kane said, added that the resources had helped in the construction of close to 100 schools since 2007. The U.S. also helps Senegal with agriculture, health and the peace process in Casamance, a rebel controlled region in southern Senegal.