Senegal: Senegal and IMF Strike $2.2bn Deal, Two Years After Debt Scandal Froze Funding

What the report says

Senegal has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a new $2.2 billion lending programme, according to RFI as republished by AllAfrica. The 36-month arrangement is meant to back Senegal’s economic and financial reform plan for 2026 to 2029, but it still needs approval from the IMF executive board and financing assurances from other international partners.

The deal comes after the IMF suspended an earlier $1.8 billion programme when previously unreported public debt came to light. That disclosure followed the change of government in 2024, when President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s administration said the former government under Macky Sall had understated the country’s debt and budget deficit. The IMF said the new package would require corrective steps to address the earlier misreporting.

Finance Minister Cheikh Diba welcomed the agreement, while IMF officials said Senegal had made progress on transparency through audits and work to reconcile historical financial data. The country’s debt load remains heavy: the article says public-sector debt stood at 132% of GDP at the end of 2024. At the same time, the fiscal deficit narrowed and economic growth remained strong in 2025, helped by Senegal’s first full year of oil production. The report also notes continuing political debate over how much debt relief or “debt treatment” should be pursued, with tensions between Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko over the IMF relationship.