WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund has held positive discussions with Senegal this week on a potential new loan program, but more time and analysis are needed to come up with a plan to deal with a significant debt overhang, IMF Africa Director Abebe Selassie said on Thursday.
Senegal is in focus at the IMF spring meetings in Washington this week after the discovery of billions in undisclosed debt, now estimated at $13 billion, prompted the IMF to halt a $1.8 billion loan program in 2024. The country has been in talks on a new financing program with the global lender for some time.
“We wanted to take time and allow the government time to come up with a program strategy that’s going to be credible, financeable, and avoid too much austerity on the people of Senegal,” Selassie said in a press briefing. “So these discussions require reflection, quite a lot of deliberation, and first and foremost, are for the government to develop.”
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)
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