IMF says Senegal must implement budget framework to win approval of $2.2 billion program

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday underscored the importance ​of Senegal implementing policies that it had agreed ​under a staff agreement for a $2.2 ‌billion lending ​program, including completion of a budget framework. IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack told reporters that Senegal also needed to complete corrective measures to deal with the misreporting ‌of hidden debt, and provide financing assurances from Senegal's partners, in order for the IMF's board to approve the lending program.

Kozack declined to comment on any possible move by the country's president to circumvent parliament and adopt ‌a budget. "We are not a party to the discussions between the government and the National Assembly. ‌That would not be our place," Kozack said in a regular briefing, noting that each of the IMF's 191 members had its own constitutional and legal framework.

"We fully respect that sovereignty of nations," she said. "What matters for us is that the authorities ⁠are committed ​to the policies that they've ⁠agreed in the staff-level agreement that can underpin the program and that the authorities are able to implement them, using Senegal's ⁠own legal and institutional framework." Senegal's finance ministry last week said a parliamentary committee had asked it to withdraw the 2027 ​budget bill, intensifying a political stand-off between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his former Prime Minister Ousmane ⁠Sonko, whose PASTEF party hold a majority in the National Assembly.

Senegal's National Assembly previously rejected an amended budget for 2026. The two ⁠budget ​bills are key to advancing the IMF program, which underpins the West African country's strategy to rework its massive debt burden. Senegal's finances have been in crisis since 2024, when the government discovered debts misreported ⁠by the previous administration that analysts peg at some $13 billion, one of the largest hidden debt cases on the ⁠continent.

Kozack told reporters ⁠that the IMF was ready to explain the program to stakeholders and was engaging extensively with authorities on the policies it had agreed to implement. She noted that ‌Senegal's official ‌creditor committee had not yet been formed.