Senegal has postponed the release of its recent budget execution reports as it tries to rebuild trust with international partners following a major debt misreporting scandal.
In a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, the government announced that reports for the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 will now be published on June 23. The delay, officials say, is meant to ensure the “sincerity and reliability” of the figures.
The decision comes as the new administration grapples with the aftermath of revelations that Senegal had significantly understated its budget deficits. A February audit by the country’s court of auditors revealed that the previous government had downplayed the national deficit by as much as seven percentage points of GDP annually, pushing the real debt ratio to nearly 100% of GDP by the end of 2023—far higher than the reported 74%.
The scandal prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to freeze disbursements from its financial program with Senegal. While the IMF welcomed the new government’s commitment to improving tax compliance and reducing dependency on foreign loans, it has made it clear that no new funding talks will resume until the matter is fully addressed.
The Finance Ministry stated that cleaning up the data—through identification, reclassification, and verification—is part of a broader push to restore fiscal discipline and public trust.
Despite those efforts, confidence in Senegal’s financial stability remains shaky. Kevin Daly, investment director at Aberdeen Investments, cautioned that the road ahead may still be rocky.
> “We are negative on Senegal,” he said.
Senegal’s dollar bonds have taken a hit. So far this year, they have posted an 11.5% loss, making them the worst performers in Africa, according to JPMorgan. By comparison, African sovereign bonds on average have returned nearly 5%.
Bonds maturing in 2033 dropped further to 65.75 cents on the dollar, data from Tradeweb shows, with analysts noting that Senegal’s debt is now trading well below that of neighboring countries.
