By Radarr Africa Business Desk
DAKAR, November 14 (Radarr Africa) – The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that Senegal must complete a coherent budget framework, take corrective measures on misreported public debt and secure financing assurances from partners before a proposed $2.2 billion programme can go to the Fund’s executive board.
IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack set out the three conditions at a regular press briefing on November 12, as a standoff between the government and the National Assembly over the 2026 and 2027 budgets deepens, according to Reuters and Senegalese press reports.
Kozack said the Fund is not a party to the talks between the government and lawmakers. She said the IMF’s focus is whether the authorities are committed to the agreed policies and can implement them within Senegal’s own legal and institutional framework. “We fully respect that sovereignty of nations,” she said, according to Reuters. Senegalese media reported that she said the Fund is following the parliamentary debates “very closely” and described the country’s institutions as sovereign in their budget decisions. The Fund, she added, provides independent economic analysis, advice and capacity-building support.
Asked whether President Bassirou Diomaye Faye could bypass parliament to adopt a budget, Kozack declined to comment, Reuters reported. Senegalese media reported that she stuck to the Fund’s criteria, namely that the budget must comply with the legal framework and with the policies set out in the staff-level agreement of September 1.
That agreement, announced in IMF press release No. 26/282 after a mission to Dakar from August 19 to September 1, covers a new 36-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility for 2026 to 2029. The amount is about $2.2 billion, or SDR 1,537.1 million, equal to 475 per cent of Senegal’s quota. The IMF said the deal remains subject to board approval and that Senegal must first implement strong corrective measures linked to its request for a waiver over the misreporting case, and obtain financing assurances from its partners.
The budget standoff is the immediate obstacle. According to Senegalese press reports, the National Assembly rejected the 2026 supplementary finance law in plenary on November 3, after two rejections in committee. Since November 7, the Finance and Budget Control Committee, chaired by Alphonse Mane Sambou, has rejected the government’s bills, including those on revenue and public debt, and then the budgets of several ministries, among them Health, Civil Service, Mines and Energy. Mane Sambou argues that the 2027 budget rests on the assumptions of the rejected supplementary law. Senegal’s finance ministry said a parliamentary committee asked it to withdraw the 2027 budget bill, Reuters reported.
The 2027 finance bill was filed on October 12, and the Assembly has a constitutional period of 60 days from that date to decide. Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo called for dialogue after the vote on the supplementary law. The dispute pits Faye against his former prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, whose PASTEF party holds a majority in the Assembly, Reuters said.
On debt, Senegalese press reports, citing the French-language daily Les Echos, said that the Fund’s second condition concerns external debt treatment. In early October the IMF announced an agreement to set up quickly an official creditor committee under the G20 Common Framework, and an information meeting with external creditors took place on October 6. Six weeks later the committee had still not been formed, and Kozack did not explain the delay, the report said. Reuters likewise quoted Kozack as saying the committee has not yet been formed. The September 1 press release said the authorities intend to request a debt treatment to restore sustainability.
The third condition concerns the hidden debt. The reports said Kozack acknowledged progress, including audits already carried out, revised statistics and debt management reforms. The Fund wants further steps to prevent new misstatements of financial data, including tighter budget controls, an end to the comfort letters used in some financings, and an audit by an international private firm. No update was given on the hiring of that firm, the report said.
The misreporting came to light in 2024, when the new administration found that the previous government had understated public debt and deficits. Analysts estimate the hidden debt at about $13 billion, one of the largest such cases in Africa, according to Reuters.
The September 1 press release said the programme is meant to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, reduce fiscal and external vulnerabilities, raise social spending and support private-sector-led growth. Planned measures include stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, more targeted cash transfers, a medium-term revenue strategy to be adopted in 2027, and stronger oversight of public debt, domestic arrears and state-owned enterprises. The IMF said the programme should help unlock financing from the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other partners.
