Senegal's Pastef party, which holds a large majority in the National Assembly, said it would not pass the government’s revised budget, reinforcing doubts over how quickly the country can push ahead with its debt restructuring.
A statement by the party headed by former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko cited “disagreements over certain budgetary decisions, the chosen financing arrangements and the insufficient guarantees provided to parliament”, though it said the party was open to engaging with the government on getting a new budget in place
The West African nation has been grappling with a debt burden that had reached 132 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of 2024, International Monetary Fund figures show, after the government uncovered billions of dollars in misreported borrowing by the previous administration
The government reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF in early September for a $2.2 billion, 36-month Extended Credit Facility to support its reform program. But without parliamentary approval of the revised budget, the government risks delaying the IMF programme, which underpins its entire debt restructuring strategy
The amended 2026 budget bill paints a sharply deteriorating fiscal picture. It cuts real GDP growth to 2.7pc from roughly 5pc in the original budget and widens the deficit to 7.6pc of GDP from 5.4pc, driven largely by a tripling of energy subsidies to 790.3bn CFA francs ($1.36bn) from 250bn
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