The IMF’s Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes found that Senegal’s macroeconomic statistics are generally reliable across national accounts, inflation, public finance, monetary data, external accounts and public-sector debt.
The report credited the Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANSD), Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest and Ministry of Finance for expertise, professionalism and commitment to data quality.
Senegal has subscribed to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) since November 2017, meeting requirements covering data availability, frequency and publication timelines.
However, the IMF described Senegal’s statistical system as operating at “two speeds”. Central institutions generally maintain stronger standards, while agencies responsible for sector-specific statistics face staffing and financial constraints.
The IMF recommended giving ANSD a clearer mandate to coordinate the national statistical system. A permanent inter-agency committee chaired by ANSD should reconcile figures from national accounts, public finance, debt, monetary and external-sector datasets before publication.
Greater coordination could reduce inconsistencies, harmonise revision schedules and prevent conflicting official statistics.
The report also called for broader public-debt reporting. Existing statistics remain largely limited to loans and debt securities, leaving gaps in areas such as accounts payable, pension-related obligations and liabilities held by some public-sector institutions.
Senegal should regularly reconcile debt figures with fiscal, treasury, creditor, monetary and external-sector records, according to the IMF.
Longer-term reforms could support Senegal’s ambition to adopt SDDS Plus, the IMF’s highest data dissemination standard. Senegal would need to publish additional government, debt, financial-sector and investment datasets in internationally recognised digital formats.
A survey conducted during the IMF assessment found strong confidence in Senegal’s official data. All nine respondents considered the statistical methods sound, while 89% rated the overall quality as good.
Users nevertheless requested more detailed statistics, clearer explanations of revisions, improved website navigation and greater access to machine-readable data.
Senegalese authorities broadly accepted the recommendations and committed to strengthening ANSD’s coordination role, improving debt reconciliation and harmonising standards across sectoral agencies.
The reforms will be pursued through Senegal’s 2024-2028 national statistical development strategy and revisions to the country’s statistical law.
–IMF/ChannelAfrica–
