A team from the International Monetary Fund completed a week-long visit to Senegal on Friday, May 3, a month and a half after the election of new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Its conclusions are rather mixed. On the one hand, she salutes the resilience of the Senegalese economy which experienced growth of more than 4% in 2023: this growth exceeded expectations. The economy was supported by a good agricultural campaign and a solid tertiary sector.
However, in the first quarter of 2024, “growth was weaker than expected” because of political tensions linked to the presidential election and because of the delayed start of gas production. The latter was postponed until December. The IMF has therefore revised economic growth downward for 2024, going from more than 8% to only 7%.
The international financial institution recommends that the new authorities “take ambitious measures to rationalize tax expenditures and improve spending efficiency”. This notably by carrying out an audit of the electricity company Senelec, in order to implement a new price list for electricity. The latter with a social tariff for vulnerable households.
Further discussions are planned in June for the second review of the IMF-supported program, a program that the new authorities have committed to continuing.
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