Gambiaj.com – (RABAT, Morocco) – Former Senegalese President Macky Sall rejected the findings of an audit that his administration had understated government debt, an outcome that led to a downgrade of the nation’s credit rating. 

“I regret the prime minister’s remarks are totally false and have led to a downgrade of Senegal’s rating,” Sall said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in London on Monday – his first public response to the audit.

Sall stepped down in April after prevaricating for months over whether he would run for another term that the opposition said would have been unconstitutional. He was succeeded by Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who trounced Sall’s favored successor, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, in the March elections.

The former president defended his administration’s economic policies and its raising of debt, which was used to finance highways and the construction of Diamniadio, a new satellite city that was established to ease congestion in the capital, Dakar.

“We must not get it into our heads that we can develop without debt; it’s not possible,” he said. “We mustn’t confuse borrowing to finance development with talking about over-indebtedness.”

Senegal, which secured $1.8 billion in funding from the International Monetary Fund in 2023, is on the cusp of becoming a significant oil and gas producer. Projects involving BP Plc, Kosmos Energy Ltd., and Woodside Energy Group Ltd. are coming online this year, and the economy is forecast to grow by 6%. Even so, about a third of the country’s 18 million people live in poverty, and youth unemployment remains rampant.

Following Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko’s accusations, Senegalese government spokesman Amadou Moustapha Sarré accused the previous administration of leaving the economy in disarray. “Sall needs to apologize to the Senegalese people,” he said.

About that, former President Macky Sall added, “I left a country where the indicators were green,” Sall said. “The results of my administration’s investments are so clearly visible, it shouldn’t even be a debate.”

A geological engineer, Sall, 62, intends to make a brief political comeback in the November legislative elections – he tops the list of candidate lawmakers for the Takku Wallu Senegal coalition, which also includes the parties of ex-President Abdoulaye Wade and the 2019 presidential election runner-up, Idrissa Seck.

“I’ve agreed to boost the opposition to avoid an all-powerful majority that could be tempted to lead the country down the wrong path,” said Sall, who is currently based in Morocco.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko accused Macky Sall’s regime of concealing the real state of Senegal’s economy. Sonko said a recent review showed the ratio of debt to gross domestic product averaged 76.3% during Sall’s last five years in power – higher than the 65.9% that had been reported. It also found the budget deficit stood at more than 10% of GDP at the end of 2023, almost double what had been previously stated.

Moody’s Ratings reduced Senegal’s long-term foreign currency ratings to B1, four steps below investment grade, following Sonko’s Sept. 26 announcement of the alleged findings.