Dakar/Washington: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Wednesday that a staff team has arrived in Senegal to begin assessing the implications of data revisions stemming from a government audit of past and current IMF-supported programs.
While the certification of the audit’s findings is still pending, the IMF staff will maintain close collaboration with Senegalese authorities in the upcoming weeks to evaluate the macroeconomic impact of the revisions and outline the necessary next steps, according to an official statement.
Commissioned by newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the audit revealed last month that Senegal’s budget deficit for the end of 2023 exceeded 10% of GDP, a significant increase from the approximately 5% reported by the previous administration. In light of these findings, the Senegalese government opted to postpone its request for an IMF disbursement in July, which followed the Fund’s review in June.
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Since the audit’s release, Senegal has been engaged in discussions with the IMF to implement corrective measures. The IMF staff team, which conducted a mission in Senegal from October 9 to October 16, focused on discussing the preliminary findings of the audit. The next steps will include an assessment of whether any misreporting occurred during previous and current IMF-supported programs, as stated in the IMF’s announcement.
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