Ousmane Sonko is the Prime Minister of Senegal
Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said on Thursday the debt-ridden country would not need to implement a restructuring plan despite a difficult repayment schedule.
The West African nation is grappling with debts that the International Monetary 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 discovery saw the Fund freeze a $1.8 billion lending programme, forcing Senegal to rely heavily on regional debt auctions to meet its financing needs.
Analysts and investors have said it is increasingly likely the government will have to restructure. But Sonko told a rally in November that Senegal was resisting pressure from the IMF to restructure.
“All the work we have done allows us to see a possibility of getting out of this situation without the need for restructuring,” Sonko told a joint press conference with Mauritania’s prime minister on Thursday.
“Based on our analysis, we consider our debt to be sustainable, as we have been managing to repay it for a year and a half,” he added.
While Sonko acknowledged that the country was facing particularly difficult repayment deadlines this year, he said he was confident it would find solutions.
“We consider our projections for both growth and revenue to be reasonable, and there is no debate on this point. They have been validated by all our partners, including the Fund. The main problem is financing.”
Last week, Finance Minister Cheikh Diba said Senegal hoped to finalise a programme with the IMF “very quickly”, adding that progress had been made on multiple issues related to managing the country’s debt crisis.