Senegal's Pastef party, which holds a large majority in the National Assembly, said it would not pass the government's revised budget, reinforcing doubts over how quickly the country can push ahead with its debt restructuring, Reuters reported on Sunday.

Source: Reuters via TradingView

The party had already rejected the 2026 revised budget bill during a parliamentary committee review, dealing a heavy blow to government efforts to manage the nation's public debt, News Central TV reported. Holding 130 of the National Assembly's 165 seats, Pastef's rejection signals the measure's almost certain failure when it comes before the full legislature on Tuesday.

Source: News Central TV

130 of 165Pastef seats in Senegal's National Assembly, News Central TV reported
132% of GDPSenegal's public debt at the end of 2024
$2.2 billionPreliminary IMF debt stabilisation package — yaani $2,200 million

The legislative standoff directly threatens the government's strategy to address public-sector debt, which reached 132 per cent of GDP at the end of 2024, and complicates a preliminary $2.2-billion IMF debt stabilisation package — yaani $2,200 million — utilising an enhanced G20 Common Framework mechanism, News Central TV reported.

Source: News Central TV

In its statement, Pastef said parliament is not a 'mere rubber-stamp body' and that while it does not reject the necessity of revising the budget, it has fundamental disagreements over specific budgetary trade-offs, the chosen financing methods and insufficient guarantees provided to Parliament, News Central TV reported.

Source: News Central TV

The budget clash highlights an escalating political rift between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Pastef leader Ousmane Sonko, the former prime minister whom Faye dismissed in May. Sonko denounced the government's proposed debt resolution mechanism and declared that his party would accept neither the 2026 supplementary finance bill nor a 2027 draft budget in their current forms, News Central TV reported.

Source: News Central TV

Senegal's international bonds fell sharply earlier this month after Sonko first said lawmakers would not back the budget legislation, Reuters reported at the time. The amended 2026 budget cuts real GDP growth to 2.7% from roughly 5% in the original budget and widens the deficit to 7.6% of GDP from 5.4%, driven largely by a tripling of energy subsidies to 790.3 billion CFA francs ($1.36 billion) from 250 billion, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via DevDiscourse

Awaaz Punjab earlier reported Senegal's bonds sliding as Sonko vowed to block the budget bills, putting the IMF-backed debt plan at risk. Read the earlier Senegal bonds report