DAKAR, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Senegal hopes to finalise a programme with the International Monetary Fund “very quickly”, its finance minister said on Tuesday, adding that progress had been made on multiple issues related to managing the country’s debt crisis.
The West African nation is trying to tame debts that the Fund said hit 132% of GDP at the end of 2024 after the current leadership uncovered billions in debts that were not reported by the previous administration.
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Speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, Finance Minister Cheikh Diba also said the discussions were “going very well” with consensus reached on issues including data correction and work continuing on “budgetary and debt issues”.
The IMF is “reviewing the work we are doing with them, the proposals we have, the instruments we have developed,” he said.
A new IMF mission chief is due to start work in January and “we hope… that we will very quickly finalise a programme with the International Monetary Fund, as this is a pressing need,” Diba said.
Diba also said Senegal would continue to raise funds using a host of instruments including Eurobonds.
Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Diadie Ba; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Susan Fenton
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