IMF Approves $76 Million Aid for Senegal to Combat High Prices

By Madelene Pearson

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The International Monetary Fund approved a one-year $75.6 million aid deal for Senegal to help the African nation offset higher food and energy prices.

The approval will allow Senegal to draw about $37.8 million from the IMF immediately, and an equal amount upon completion of the first review under an arrangement to help nations deal with external events that affect their budgets, the IMF said in a statement.

“The Senegalese economy is facing a difficult period,” Murilo Portugal, deputy managing director of the IMF’s executive board, said in the statement. “Economic growth has slowed significantly, as a result of government payment delays to the private sector and the effect on consumption of high food and energy prices.”

Senegal has clamped down on spending after it overspent its budget this year by an amount that may run into hundreds of millions of dollars, the IMF said in September after a visit to the country. Commodities from oil to wheat, rice and corn rose to records this year before later easing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net