The government of Sénégal is implementing budget cuts worth hundreds of billions of CFA francs in order to maintain the balance of public accounts. This decision comes as the Plan de redressement économique et social (PRES) underperforms, with expected revenues falling short of targets. The executive, led by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, is now working to close a budgetary gap that threatens the financial trajectory set at the beginning of the fiscal year.
PRES revenues fall below forecasts
Designed as the backbone of the new administration’s fiscal consolidation strategy, the PRES was intended to raise additional resources to reduce the inherited deficit and fund the government’s social priorities. However, initial accounting data tells a different story. Tax and non-tax revenues programmed under this plan are lagging significantly, undermining the macroeconomic assumptions that underpinned the current finance law.
This revenue shortfall forces difficult choices. Rather than deepening the deficit or resorting to heavy new borrowing in an environment where debt costs have risen sharply, Sénégal’s authorities have opted for austerity. Concretely, hundreds of billions of CFA francs in spending authorizations have been frozen or cancelled across several ministerial lines, to align outflows with actual inflows.
Fiscal balance under strain in Dakar
An internal warning is clear: without immediate correction, the budget balance would be at risk. This phrase, echoed in planning documents, underscores the urgency of the response. Sénégal has committed to strict deficit targets under its programme with multilateral partners, notably the International Monetary Fund, and with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), where Dakar must keep the public deficit below 3% of GDP. The revelations made in September 2024 by the Court of Auditors about the true extent of public debt had already led the country to renegotiate its relationship with donors. These cuts are the latest step in that accounting alignment.
High-stakes political decisions for Sonko
For the executive tandem of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister, the exercise is delicate. Elected on a promise of economic rupture and tangible improvements in living conditions, they must now reconcile fiscal orthodoxy with strong social expectations. The cuts will inevitably affect investment spending, which is easier to postpone than operating expenses, as well as some transfers. Several ministries are likely to see their budgets reduced by proportions unseen in recent years.
The chosen path carries political risk. Reducing infrastructure credits or sectoral subsidies in a country that has just emerged from a period of institutional instability could fuel discontent. Conversely, allowing the deficit to widen would accelerate a downgrade of Sénégal’s sovereign rating, already under watch by agencies such as Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings, which are closely monitoring the government’s ability to keep its budgetary promises.
Timing is also critical. The announced cuts must take effect before the end of the fiscal year, which requires rapid implementation of freeze directives and strict discipline from authorizing officers. Oversight will largely fall to the Ministry of Finance and Budget, working closely with the Prime Minister’s office. The ability to rebuild revenues in 2025 through a more effective tax reform and better mobilization of internal resources will determine how long this austerity phase lasts.
Beyond the immediate shock, this episode illustrates the narrow fiscal space Sénégal truly has to finance its economic transformation ambitions. The cuts involve hundreds of billions of CFA francs and explicitly aim to protect the budget balance, which was threatened by the PRES’s underperformance.
