Senegal’s newspapers on Monday, November 9, talked of little else. The country is sinking into an unprecedented budget impasse, the result of an open confrontation between the executive and the parliamentary majority. On Saturday, November 7, meeting in the presence of Economy, Finance and Planning Minister Cheikh Diba, the National Assembly’s finance and budget oversight committee rejected the 2027 initial finance bill, along with all the budget texts submitted by the government.
The wave of rejections did not stop there. On Sunday, the budgets of the ministries of Higher Education and the Environment were also turned down, following that of Trade and Industry, and other ministries are expected to suffer the same fate. Several dailies summed up the situation in one phrase: Pastef is rejecting everything.
To justify their stance, majority lawmakers point to a lack of budgetary sincerity. They denounce inconsistent figures, forecasts that are hard to finance, payment appropriations they consider unsustainable, and the absence of key documents, including the 2025 budget settlement law. Above all, they argue that the macroeconomic assumptions underpinning the 2027 budget became obsolete once the supplementary budget was rejected.
The crisis began a few days earlier. On Tuesday, November 3, the National Assembly rejected the 2026 supplementary finance bill in plenary session, with the opposition group Takku Wallu choosing to abstain. That same day, finance committee chairman Alphonse Mané Sambou wrote to the minister asking for the withdrawal of the 2027 draft budget, which had been submitted by presidential decree, and demanding a new version based on the 2026 initial finance law.
The executive was quick to respond. In a statement issued on November 4, the Economy Ministry denounced obstruction tactics and pointed out that rejecting a supplementary budget does not automatically mean withdrawing the following year’s budget. It also highlighted a contradiction, noting that the committee chairman had summoned members to begin examining the very text he wanted withdrawn. On November 5, the government’s conspicuous absence from the scheduled session caused a real political stir, before the meeting was rescheduled for Saturday.
Behind this procedural battle lies a major political rupture. Long seen as an inseparable duo, Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko have drifted apart to the point of a split. Dismissed as prime minister in May, the Pastef leader was elected speaker of the National Assembly a few days later, where his party holds a large majority. The new government, led by Ahmadou Al Aminou Lô, includes no official Pastef representative. Ousmane Sonko had warned that his majority would vote for neither the 2026 supplementary budget nor the 2027 budget as they stood.
Institutionally, a rejection in committee does not mean the budget is dead, as the text still has to go before the full Assembly. But time is short. Senegal is holding delicate talks with the International Monetary Fund against a backdrop of very high public debt, and several ministers have already warned of the consequences of a prolonged blockage for development projects, jobs and financing mechanisms. Ousmane Sonko’s public statements have also already weighed on how markets view Senegal’s bonds.
Beyond the political feud, the confrontation raises a fundamental question: how to reconcile parliamentary oversight of public finances, the need for budget transparency and the imperative of keeping the state running. The coming days will show whether the executive and the majority can reach a compromise, or whether Senegal is heading for a lasting budget crisis.