In his yearly state of the nation address, Senegal’s president Bassirou Diomaye Faye cautioned Thursday that the nation faced a challenging financial future that will need sacrifices.
Following claims by the International Monetary Fund and authorities that the previous administration had misjudged the amount of debt owed by the West African country, Faye made her remarks.
“The state of the public finances of our country, as revealed by the audit, means that we must count first of all on ourselves to redress the situation,” said Faye, who took office one year ago.
He said “collective sacrifices” would be needed but added: “We are very capable and we will succeed with the mobilisation of everyone.”
The government’s financial watchdog reported in February that Senegal’s debt was over 99% of GDP, which was larger than the previous government’s estimate, and that social tensions had increased in recent months.
In contrast to the previous government’s estimate of 4.9%, it stated that the 2023 budget deficit was 12.3% of GDP.
The IMF said in March that there were “significant” errors in Senegal’s public debt figures for 2019-23 and called for “corrective measures”.
Faye called for “active solidarity” to confront the “numerous challenges” facing the country but said that “budget discipline is not negotiable”.
