Faced with the heated controversy sparked by the 2026 supplementary budget (LFR) bill, the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Cooperation has broken its silence. Through an explanatory document detailing the fate of 19 major investment projects, the ministry denies any cancellations and states that the budgetary trade-offs respond to the requirements of macroeconomic adjustment.

Budget revision does not mean giving up. That is the central message the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Cooperation was keen to convey in response to concerns about the 2026 LFR. Drawing on an infographic focused on 19 flagship projects in infrastructure, health, housing and agriculture, the ministry insists that no structural project has been abandoned. According to the economic administration, the orientations of the National Transformation Agenda remain fully included in the programming, with a timetable readjusted to the pace of available resources and financing arrangements.

Projects maintained, supported or rescheduled: the government’s typology

To back up its clarification, the ministry has mapped out the monitoring of these major investments. For the projects maintained: the construction of 35 health centres remains confirmed in the 2026-2028 programming. The same applies to the works on the Mékhé-Pékesse-Thilmakha road, the renewal of Sonacos facilities, the development of cereal value chains (groundnuts, millet, fonio, sorghum), and the construction of the University of Eastern Senegal. In terms of rural infrastructure, the Emergency Programme for the Modernisation of Road Corridors (Puma) and the rural electrification programme – with an allocation of 2 billion F – also retain their status as maintained projects.

The supported project: the flagship programme to build 30,000 homes benefits from reaffirmed tax and customs measures to guarantee its implementation. And the rescheduled project: this is the case of the major water transfer from Lake Guiers to Touba, whose compensation appropriations have been officially postponed to the 2027 financial year. With this clarification, the government formally rejects accusations that projects have been cancelled, stressing that this is a technical and realistic rescheduling of the State’s commitments.

Tough macroeconomic trade-offs owned

This reorganisation of the investment budget is dictated by severe budgetary and economic constraints. The document highlights a massive increase in energy subsidies, which climb from 250 to 790.3 billion F – an additional 540.3 billion CFA francs intended, according to the ministry, to protect household purchasing power against external shocks.

At the same time, revenue forecasts for the Pres have been revised downwards, from 762.9 to 311.5 billion F, while economic growth for 2026 has been readjusted from 5% to 2.7% in a complex international environment. As a direct consequence of these trade-offs, the projected budget deficit stands at 7.6% of GDP, compared with 5.4% initially forecast, a level the Economy Ministry’s services describe as under control and sustainable.

Referring to the sectoral annexes of the 2026-2028 Public Investment Programme (Pip), the ministry reiterates that the 2026 LFR adapts the State’s capital spending effort to current realities without sacrificing national priorities.