IMF cautions ‘challenging’ macroeconomic outlook in Senegal for the rest of 2024

IMF cautions ‘challenging’ macroeconomic outlook in Senegal for the rest of 2024
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), receives an interview with Xinhua during the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington D.C., the United States, April 13, 2021. (Kim Haughton/IMF/Handout via Xinhua)

DAKAR, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) — The macroeconomic outlook for the rest of 2024 is expected to be “challenging” for Senegal, where economic growth projection is now lowered to 6 percent from 7.1 percent in June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday.

“Real GDP growth was 2.3 percent in the first quarter, and economic indicators point to a similar deceleration in the second quarter,” the IMF said in the press release following a week-long mission to Senegal.

This slowdown reflects weaker activity in the mining, construction, and agro-industrial sectors and, to a lesser extent, in the primary sector, it said.

Senegal’s budget execution through the end of August “revealed a significant revenue shortfall, while expenditures remained broadly in line with projections,” it noted.