By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, November 9 (Radarr Africa) – Senegal’s National Assembly on Tuesday, November 3, blocked proposed revisions to this year’s budget, a setback for talks on a $2.2 billion, three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme meant to stabilise the country’s public finances, AFP reported.
Lawmakers opposed the draft bill by 109 votes to 20, with three abstentions. Parliament had sent the bill back to the finance committee a week before the final vote.
The budget is central to the IMF programme. The deadlock could derail a board vote that had been targeted for as early as December.
The IMF says Senegal’s public debt reached 132 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of 2024, after billions of dollars in previously misreported borrowing by the former administration came to light. That disclosure has complicated the country’s access to financing and its talks with the Fund.
The vote also exposes a rift at the top of government. The Pastef group, led by Ousmane Sonko, holds the majority in the Assembly. Sonko, who is also the Assembly speaker, is in a public feud with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. He was elected Assembly president after Faye dismissed him as prime minister in May 2026.
Social tensions are adding to the pressure. High youth unemployment and a cost-of-living crisis have raised the political temperature, and a three-day general strike was held recently.
An IMF programme typically commits a government to fiscal targets that are written into the national budget, which is why parliamentary approval of the revised budget is a precondition for the board to proceed. Without it, disbursements that would support the budget and signal credibility to other lenders and investors are delayed.
