IMF: Senegal loan progressing, review underway into how it missed debts

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it had made "significant progress" with Senegal toward a new loan programme while the Fund continued an internal investigation into how it failed to detect billions of dollars in unreported debt.

Senegal is trying to tame debts that the Fund said hit 132% of GDP at the end of 2024 after the current leadership uncovered billions in debts that were not reported by the previous administration.

"The IMF and the Senegalese authorities are working intensively on the design of the new program and the measures that were needed to address the root causes of the of the hidden debt," IMF communications director Julie Kozack said.

She added that while Senegal faced "significant debt vulnerabilities," Senegalese authorities would determine themselves whether to restructure any debt.

Kozack said the Fund is also working to determine how it did not detect unreported debts in Senegal, which had a $1.8 billion IMF loan package at the time. The Fund froze that programme last year.

"We are conducting an internal review to understand how these discrepancies went undetected, and also to reinforce safeguards in our own processes," Kozack said.

It said the review would examine its "data integrity frameworks," strengthen its internal review processes to improve detection of future anomalies and enhance its internal staff training.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Andrea Shalal, writing by Libby George, editing by Karin Strohecker)

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