Week in Verto, 2–6 November: Senegal blocks its budget as others rework their financing

Money, and who gets to decide how it is raised and spent, ran through this week. In Dakar the National Assembly threw out the government’s revised 2026 budget on Tuesday, leaving the spending plan that Senegal’s IMF talks depend on without parliamentary approval. In Abuja the presidency withdrew a $20.5 billion foreign borrowing request it had sent the Senate only a week earlier and replaced it with one for $7.7 billion, built around Eurobonds. Zambia went the other way on Friday with the largest budget it has proposed, most of it to be paid for at home. Washington, for its part, set 1 January as the date South Africa and Rwanda lose duty-free access to the US market under AGOA. Last week the story was fuel pushing up inflation and central banks answering it; this week the pressure showed up in treasuries and parliaments. Prices kept moving too. Ghana’s inflation rose for a third month, South African diesel got cheaper, and Morocco reported a sharp quarterly fall in jobs, while South Africans voted in municipal elections whose final results are due on Sunday.

Senegal’s National Assembly throws out the revised 2026 budget

Deputies rejected the 2026 revised finance bill on 3 November by adopting a procedural motion that ended debate before its articles were examined: 126 voted for rejection, 20 against and 3 abstained. The finance committee had already turned the bill down on 23 and 30 October. It set revenue at 5,848.7 billion CFA francs and spending at 7,583.9 billion, a deficit of 1,735.2 billion CFA francs (about $3.0 billion at the 5 November ECB reference rate), or 7.6% of GDP. It cut investment credits by 555 billion and lifted electricity and gas subsidies to more than 790 billion, from 250 billion. Pastef, which holds the majority and is led by Assembly president Ousmane Sonko, said deputies had not been given the data they needed, including a finance inspectorate report on non-financial debt. Finance Minister Cheikh Diba said President Bassirou Diomaye Faye would decide the way forward with his prime minister. In committee the government had warned that rejection could put electricity supply, payments to companies and teachers’ salary arrears at risk. A $2.2 billion IMF programme, agreed in principle in September, still awaits the Fund’s board.

US moves to end AGOA access for South Africa and Rwanda from January

President Donald Trump has notified Congress and both governments of his intent to terminate South Africa’s and Rwanda’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act from 1 January 2027, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on 2 November. The statement said an annual interagency review found practices inconsistent with the programme’s eligibility criteria, citing trade and investment barriers and, in South Africa’s case, corruption. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said the government would work with affected industries company by company. He put AGOA’s share of South African exports to the US at about 10% in 2025, down from 28% in 2024, with most goods already entering on standard WTO terms. Citrus, wine and car components, the main AGOA lines, lose duty-free treatment in January. Rwanda’s defence ministry was placed under US sanctions on 28 October; no public comment from Rwanda’s government on the AGOA decision could be found by Friday afternoon.

Nigeria cuts its foreign borrowing request to $7.7 billion

One week after asking the Senate to approve $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion of external loans, President Bola Tinubu withdrew the request and replaced it with one for $7.707 billion, which Senate President Godswill Akpabio read in plenary on 4 November. The money would part-finance the 2026 budget deficit, and Tinubu wrote that “emphasis will be on the issuance of Eurobonds, which is typically faster to conclude.” At the budget’s assumed rate of N1,400 to the dollar the sum is about N10.79 trillion; at the official market’s weighted average of N1,346.79 on 6 November, it is about N10.38 trillion. The request now sits with the Senate’s committee on local and foreign debts, which was asked to report back as soon as practicable.

Zambia proposes K284.8 billion of spending for 2027

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane presented the 2027 budget to Parliament on 6 November: K284.8 billion, about 12.5% more than this year’s K253.1 billion and the largest Zambia has proposed in nominal terms. Domestic revenue is projected at K233.7 billion, or 82% of the total, with K41.9 billion to be borrowed at home and abroad and K9.2 billion expected in grants. At the K20.84 per dollar the Energy Regulation Board used to set November fuel prices, the budget is worth about $13.7 billion. It arrives three weeks before VAT returns to fuel on 1 December, the same pump prices that drove October’s inflation to 6.3%.

More South Africans vote than in 2021, with final results due Sunday

About 15.9 million of 29.2 million registered voters cast ballots in the 4 November municipal elections, an estimated turnout of 54.5% against 46% at the 2021 local polls, according to electoral commission data reported by Al Jazeera late on 5 November. Counting for 257 councils continued through Friday, and final results and seat allocations are expected on Sunday, 8 November. Party shares in the partial count have shifted as results arrive from different provinces and remain provisional until the commission declares them.

Ghana’s inflation rises for a third month as transport costs jump

Transport inflation more than doubled in October, to 14.1% from 5.7%, and services inflation reached 11.5% from 8.3%, Government Statistician Alhassan Iddrisu said on 4 November. Together they lifted the headline rate to 5.5% from 5.2% in September, the third rise in a row, even as food inflation eased to 2.8% from 4.0% and prices overall fell 0.1% during the month. Locally produced items rose 6.9% over the year, against 2.4% for imports, so the pressure is coming from inside the economy rather than through the cedi.

Diesel falls by more than R1 a litre in South Africa; petrol barely moves

Petrol fell by one cent a litre on 4 November, while diesel dropped by 109.82 to 119.82 cents depending on grade, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe announced. Both cost drivers pushed the other way: the rand weakened from R16.21 to R16.55 per dollar and average Brent crude rose from $101 to $108 a barrel over the review period, while the slate levy rose by 48.18 cents to 135.84 cents a litre. Illuminating paraffin rose by R2.75 a litre at wholesale and LPGas by 183 cents a kilogram. Temporary fuel levy cuts of R1.50 a litre on petrol and R3.00 on diesel remain in force.

Morocco sheds 173,000 jobs in the third quarter

Employment fell to 10.47 million in the third quarter of 2026, down 173,000 from the second, the High Commission for Planning reported on 3 November. Rural areas accounted for 148,000 of the losses and agriculture, forestry and fishing for 145,000; industry was the only sector to add jobs, with 69,000. The strict unemployment rate rose 0.9 point to 10.5%, and to 30.5% for people aged 15 to 24. The figures come from a new labour survey that the commission says is not directly comparable with its old series, so a year-on-year comparison is not yet possible.

The question we want to answer properly: what Senegal’s government can lawfully do when parliament refuses the budget its IMF talks depend on, and how long the state can keep paying its bills while it decides.

Related on Africa Verto: Senegal’s revised 2026 budget sent back to committee; Verto Morning Digest, 3 November; Week in Verto, 26–30 October