IMF staff team has started assessing implications of Senegal financial audit, IMF says

DAKAR (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said a staff team had visited Senegal to start assessing the implications of data revisions resulting from a government audit of past and current IMF-supported programs.

While the certification of the government’s findings is pending, IMF staff will continue to work closely with the authorities in the coming weeks to evaluate the macroeconomic impact and outline the next steps, the Fund said in a statement.

An audit of Senegal’s finances ordered by newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, showed last month that the deficit at the end of 2023 stood at over 10% of GDP, compared with around 5% the previous government had reported.

As a result, the government said it had decided not to go ahead with Senegal’s request for an IMF disbursement in July following the Fund’s review in June.

The West African country has since been in discussion with the IMF to take corrective measures.

An IMF staff team conducted a mission to Senegal from Oct. 9 to Oct. 16 to discuss the audit’s preliminary findings.

Next steps “will include assessing whether any misreporting occurred during previous and current IMF-supported programs”, the statement said.