Senegal’s powerful opposition figure and parliamentary leader Ousmane Sonko on Monday denounced the mechanism the west African nation plans to use to address its staggering debt, predicting that the population would feel a heavy sting.
“Senegal did not need to go to the G20 for a simple debt reprofiling exercise. Senegal is grappling with a total public-sector debt burden estimated at 132 percent of GDP at the end of 2024, a portion of which had been concealed by the previous administration under ex-president Macky Sall . Last month the International Monetary Fund announced an agreement with Senegal on a new 36-month, $2.2 billion debt programme aimed at stabilising the country’s public finances.
It did not need to serve as a guinea pig for this G20 initiative”, Sonko, who also serves as speaker of the National Assembly, told the press Monday.
Sonko had served as Faye’s prime minister but was dismissed in May following months of disagreement. “This is an austerity budget designed to pay off debts that were hidden from the Senegalese people.
He said the approach had imposed “conditionalities” on Senegal, which are apparent in the 2027 budget documents that President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has submitted to parliament, which is set to review them soon. He said the budget proposals drastically cut social spending and investment, specifically citing education, employment, training and subsidies for electricity and petroleum products. We cannot accept it”, he said, criticising the IMF as an “accomplice to the hidden debt”. He said the situation was unacceptable to his Pastef party, and that any deadlock would be the “sole responsibility” of the executive branch.
