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Fuel crisis/ Senegal bans ministers from traveling abroad due to price hike
2026-04-05 22:42:46 / BOTA
Government ministers in Senegal have been banned from all non-essential travel abroad following a rise in oil prices due to the conflict in Iran, the prime minister announced.
Speaking at a youth rally on Friday, Ousmane Sonko said the current cost of a barrel of oil was approaching double what was budgeted.
Sonko has postponed trips to Niger, Spain and France as part of the restrictions. He said the mines minister would announce further measures to curb government spending next week.
Senegal's move is the latest response from the continent to rising oil prices, which has led countries to cut fuel taxes and ration electricity, the BBC reports.
In his speech to the youth, the prime minister said he did not want to “scare” his audience or put pressure on them. Instead, he wanted to give them a “sense of this world, which is a difficult world,” but added that although things were difficult, Senegalese were resilient.
Despite a fledgling oil and gas industry, Senegal relies heavily on fuel imports.
Last year, the International Monetary Fund described the economy as "robust" with a growth rate of nearly 8% and low inflation.
But its public debt – amounting to more than 130% of the total annual size of the economy – is high. Sonko, appointed prime minister two years ago, blamed the previous government for burdening his administration with debt, which he said had made the current situation of coping with the price of oil even more difficult.
Energy rationing and gasoline dilution – how African countries are coping with the effects of the war in Iran
Elsewhere on the continent, this week the South African government responded to rising oil prices by reducing the tax it imposes on gasoline, in an effort to limit the rising cost of fuel at the pumps.
Fuel shortages in Ethiopia have forced some government institutions to send employees on annual leave. South Sudan has begun rationing electricity in its capital, Juba, while Zimbabwe is increasing the ethanol content in gasoline.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran has also led to a restriction of fertilizer supplies to the rest of the world. About 30% of this essential agricultural input passes through the Gulf.
The humanitarian organization International Rescue Committee warned on Wednesday that this was a "time bomb for food security," especially for East Africa which relies on fertilizer imports from the Middle East.
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