Senegal parliament rejects budget key to $2.2B IMF deal

Senegal’s National Assembly voted on Tuesday to reject a revised 2026 budget that the government needs to complete a $2.2-billion U.S. International Monetary Fund programme, deepening a political standoff in Dakar.

Lawmakers voted 109 to 20 against the bill, with three abstentions, France 24 reported, citing AFP. Presiding lawmaker El Malick Ndiaye told the chamber “we consider the bill rejected.” Bloomberg also reported the vote.

The deadlock could derail Senegal’s hopes of an IMF board vote on the three-year programme as early as next month, Africanews reported, also citing AFP. Senegal announced in September that it had struck the deal with the Fund, but the IMF has not yet announced board approval and the programme is subject to conditions, France 24 said.

The Pastef party of Ousmane Sonko, who is the speaker of the National Assembly and is locked in a feud with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, holds a large majority in parliament and had made clear it opposed the revised budget. The assembly had already sent the bill back to the finance committee a week ago, and the Pastef majority on that committee rejected it twice, AFP reported.

A parliamentary document seen by AFP said the revised budget was meant to account for a sharp rise in hydrocarbon prices, driven partly by tensions in the Middle East, a drop in projected tax revenue after a recent government recovery plan, and higher debt-servicing costs. Finance Minister Cheikh Diba attended the debate.

In a statement released Saturday, the Ministry of the Economy said Pastef’s rejection came “in a context of severely limited room for manoeuvring, difficulties in accessing financial markets and ongoing negotiations” with the IMF, according to France 24.

The IMF has said Senegal’s debt reached 132 per cent of gross domestic product at the end of 2024, a result of the discovery of billions of dollars in misreported borrowing by the previous administration, Africanews said. The budget row comes as youth unemployment is high and a cost-of-living crisis recently prompted a three-day general strike.

For Canadians, the vote matters most for travel and planning rather than trade. Global Affairs Canada’s travel advice for Senegal, last updated on Oct. 15, 2026, tells Canadians to exercise a high degree of caution in the country, and separately addresses the Casamance region and border areas. Canadians planning a trip should check the advisory before departure.

The standoff lands as Senegal hosts the Youth Olympic Games, which opened in Dakar on Nov. 1 as the first Olympic event on African soil. It also follows the Fund’s October outlook, in which it lifted its 2026 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 4.5 per cent.

No date has been announced for another vote.

Via AFP, France 24, Africanews and Bloomberg.

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