DAKAR, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Senegal's economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7 percent in 2026 and 1.5 percent in 2027, down from 6.75 percent in 2025, Economy, Finance and Planning Minister Cheikh Diba said Saturday.
Diba outlined the projections during his speech at the opening of a closed-door session of parliament's expanded Finance and Budgetary Control Committee to examine the draft 2027 budget.
"This figure does not mean we are giving up. It is the price we have chosen to pay for putting things right," he said."We have chosen honest figures over flattering assumptions that reality would easily have disproved."
On public finances, the minister said the draft 2027 budget targets a deficit of 4.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with 7.6 percent projected in the draft supplementary budget for 2026, which lawmakers rejected Tuesday.
"This represents an effort of almost three percentage points of GDP in a single year, in an uncertain environment," Diba added. ■