Senegal's opposition-dominated parliament rejects key budget bill

Senegal's National Assembly, which is dominated by the opposition, rejected a key budget bill Tuesday, a text that was seen as crucial to restoring public finances as the country finalises an IMF bailout.

Senegal in September announced it had struck a $2.2-billion International Monetary Fund debt programme aimed at stabilising its public finances.

But the IMF has yet to announce executive board approval and the bailout is subject to certain conditions.

The powerful Pastef party, which holds an overwhelming majority in parliament, has long made clear its rejection of the 2026 revised budget, which came before parliament Tuesday.

Following a morning debate, the session's presiding lawmaker, El Malick Ndiaye, announced that "we consider the bill rejected", after 109 lawmakers voted against it, 20 voted for it and three abstained.

Parliament had already sent the bill back to committee a week ago and the Pastef majority in the finance committee has rejected the bill twice.

Pastef's charismatic leader Ousmane Sonko, who is engaged in a dramatic political feud with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, is speaker of the National Assembly.

The debate was cut short upon request from a Pastef lawmaker, Amadou Ba, who used parliamentary procedure to allow a direct vote.

He said lawmakers lacked relevant data and accused the government of having not provided necessary documents.

Another Pastef lawmaker, Ayib Daffe, said that measures in the bill that were aimed at combating the cost of living "do not suit us. (There are) no measures planned to stabilise fuel prices", he said.

'Limited' manoeuvring

The finance ministry said in a statement released Saturday that Pastef's rejection comes "in a context of severely limited room for manoeuvring, difficulties in accessing financial markets and ongoing negotiations" with the IMF.

A parliamentary document shared with AFP Tuesday indicated that the revised budget aimed to account for a sharp rise in hydrocarbon prices driven in part by tensions in the Middle East, a decline in projected tax revenue following a recent government recovery plan and an increase in debt-servicing costs.

Senegal faced public-sector debt estimated at 132 percent of GDP at the end of 2024.

The government indicated Friday that rejection of the budget would notably compromise the supply of electricity, payments owed to businesses and back pay for teachers.

Finance Minister Cheikh Diba attended the debate in the National Assembly, which began at 10:00 am (local and GMT time).