Senegalese lawmakers reject key budget in major setback for IMF talks

Senegal's opposition-dominated parliament on Tuesday blocked proposed revisions to this year’s budget that is key to securing a new International Monetary Fund bailout programme.

The rejection is prolonging a standoff over the country’s fiscal plans as the authorities seek a new financing programme.

Lawmakers from Ousmane Sonko’s Pastef group, which has a majority in the National Assembly, opposed the draft bill with 109 votes to 20. There were three abstentions.

Parliament had already sent the bill back to the finance committee a week ago.

The deadlock could derail Senegal's hopes of an IMF board vote on ‌a $2.2 ⁠billion three-year programme as early as next month, aimed at stabilising its public finances.

Senegal has been grappling with a debt burden that the Fund says had reached 132 per cent of gross domestic product ‌by ⁠the end of 2024.

This was the result of the discovery of billions of dollars in misreported borrowing by the previous administration.

Sonko, who is also National Assembly speaker, is also engaged in a dramatic political feud with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The budget row comes at a time of heightened social tension, with youth unemployment high and a cost-of-living crisis prompting a three-day general strike recently.