IMF Staff Concludes Visit to Senegal

IMF News, March 26, 2025

Source details

Mission dates: March 18 to 26, 2025.
Mission led by Mr. Edward Gemayel.
Objective: review findings of the Court of Auditors audit report released on February 12, 2025, which reviewed budget execution over the 2019–2023 period and confirmed significant underreporting of fiscal deficits and public debt.
Assess the magnitude of misreporting, identify legal, institutional, and procedural shortcomings, and discuss corrective measures to prevent recurrence.
IMF stance: welcomes authorities’ commitment to fiscal transparency and stands ready to support Senegal in designing a new reform program once necessary conditions are in place.

Average fiscal deficit for 2019–2023:
- Revised upward by 5.6 percentage points of GDP.
Central government debt:
- Revised from 74.4 to 99.7 percent of GDP at end-2023.
- Hidden loans identified amounting to 25.3 percentage points of GDP.
Preliminary 2024 macro-fiscal outcomes:
- Real GDP growth in 2024: around 6.0 percent (supported by hydrocarbon sector).
- Inflation in 2024: averaging 0.8 percent.
- Fiscal deficit in 2024: reached 11.7 percent of GDP.
- Central government debt preliminary estimated at 105.7 percent of GDP at end-2024.
Financing environment:
- Financing conditions tightened significantly due to constrained regional markets, delays in donor support, and increased reliance on costly short-term external borrowing.

The revisions point to serious lapses in budget controls and public financial reporting.
Previously undisclosed liabilities and hidden loans materially worsened fiscal indicators and debt sustainability.
Tightened financing conditions underscore the urgency of restoring market confidence and rebuilding fiscal buffers.
A credible fiscal consolidation path is needed to return to the WAEMU fiscal deficit target and place public debt on a firmly downward trajectory.

Urgent reforms to enhance fiscal transparency and reinforce budget oversight.
Priority measures highlighted:
- Streamline tax exemptions.
- Phase out costly, untargeted energy subsidies.
Initiate corrective actions addressing the misreporting before IMF Executive Board consideration of the misreporting case and prior to discussions on a potential new IMF-supported program.
IMF readiness to support the design of a reform-oriented arrangement that builds on audit findings and aligns with the government’s development strategy once corrective steps are underway.

Meetings held with:
- His Excellency, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
- Mr. Ousmane Diagne, Minister of Justice.
- Mr. Abdourahmane Sarr, Minister of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation.
- Mr. Cheikh Diba, Minister of Finance and Budget.
- Other senior government officials, labor unions, civil society, and development partners.
Mission note: authorities expressed intention to request a new IMF-supported program.

Source: Press Release No. 25/77, March 26, 2025, IMF Communications Department.