The financial institution announced that it had identified a misrepresentation of $7 billion (over 4,000 billion CFA francs). Compared to GDP, the outstanding amount, including the amount of "misreporting," significantly exceeds the 74% initially stated as of December 31, 2023. It is actually 99.67%, according to the auditing body. What are the consequences of this situation? In an interview published this Tuesday, March 25, in Le Soleil, the Fund's mission chief in Senegal, Edward Gemayel, provides some clarification.
Following the confirmation of the "misreporting," Senegal is awaiting a decision from the IMF Executive Board regarding its cooperation with the institution. "Two options exist: either Senegal will have to repay the initial loan or it will benefit from a waiver based on the corrective measures implemented by the government," says Edward Gemayel. Faced with this alternative, Dakar has made its choice. "The Senegalese authorities are working towards obtaining a waiver and have already proposed a series of corrective measures, in addition to those identified by the Court of Auditors' report," says the IMF mission chief.
An IMF team is in Dakar for a week (March 18-26). According to the Bretton Woods institution's mission chief, Edward Gemayel, the objective is "to study the [Cour des Comptes'] report, to discuss with the authorities to understand what happened and how, and then identify corrective measures to prevent any recurrence." This scrutiny began six months ago when Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko raised the alarm. "We've been working on this since the beginning of this affair," Gemayel recalls. "We were there last September and then in October. We also hosted the Senegalese delegation at the Annual Meetings in October, and since then, discussions have continued virtually."
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