NAIROBI (Reuters) – Senegal’s sovereign dollar bonds fell on Friday after a government audit revealed larger debt and deficit figures than the previous administration had reported, Tradeweb data showed.
The 2033 maturity fell 2.3 cents to bid at 84.54 cents on the dollar by 0720 GMT, while the 2048 issue was down by 2.42 cents.
The International Monetary Fund said the government had shared initial findings of the report with the Washington-based fund, adding that it welcomed the audit and was working with the government to determine appropriate next steps.
The audit ordered by the new government of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye showed the deficit at the end of 2023 stood at over 10% compared with around 5% the previous government had reported, the minister for the economy Abdourahmane Sarr said late on Thursday.
Faye’s administration had therefore chosen not to request a disbursement from the IMF in July under its $1.8 billion, three-year lending program, Sarr said, to avoid running afoul of IMF rules.
Both sides are in discussions on the way forward, the government said.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri, Libby George in London and Bate Felix in Dakar; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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