DAKAR, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The finance committee of Senegal’s National Assembly will review a revised budget it initially rejected and that is crucial to sealing a new programme with the International Monetary Fund, National Assembly President Ousmane Sonko said on Tuesday.
• Finance Minister Cheikh Diba requested that the committee take another look at the revised budget during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday
• Sonko said he was referring the text to the committee and that he would work to set dates for committee proceedings and the next plenary session
• Senegal has been grappling with a debt burden that had reached 132% of gross domestic product by the end of 2024, IMF figures show, after the government discovered billions of dollars in misreported borrowing by the previous administration
• The amended 2026 budget cuts real GDP growth to 2.7% from roughly 5% and widens the deficit to 7.6% of GDP from 5.4%
• Sonko said earlier this month that lawmakers from his Pastef party would not vote for the bill as it stood, and the finance commission rejected it last week
(Reporting by Ayen Deng Bior and Diadie Ba; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Hugh Lawson)
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