Senegal's opposition-dominated parliament rejects revised 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 country's 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. 

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Following a morning debate, the session's presiding lawmaker, El Malick Ndiaye, announced that "we consider the bill rejected", with 109 lawmakers voting to reject it, 20 voting for it and three abstaining. 

Parliament had already sent the bill back to committee a week ago. 

The Pastef majority in the finance committee has additionally 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. 

In a statement released Saturday, the Ministry of the Economy said 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. 

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

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)