Treatment of external debt: Senegal reassures its creditors

After its agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Senegal is taking a giant step forward within the framework of the Debt Treatment Plan. In this context, an (online) meeting was held yesterday, Tuesday October 6, with the creditors. Members of the General Directorate of Financing and Debt (Dgfd) reassured the country’s arrangements for optimal portfolio management, with a timetable for signing agreements and implementation.

Senegal, through the General Directorate of Financing and Debt (Dgfd), held, yesterday, Tuesday, October 6, an information meeting with external creditors, under the good offices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to a source, this meeting allowed the authorities to take stock with external creditors of Senegal’s economic and financial situation, the economic reform program and the debt treatment strategy, including the plan for engagement with creditors, the timetable and the next steps.
Next, IMF staff presented the broad outlines of the agreement reached at staff level with the authorities regarding a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), as well as elements backed by lending policies and frameworks. This meeting with investors is part of the implementation of the Senegal Debt Treatment Plan (Ptds).

Represented by Babacar Touré, head of the Dgfd, and the Minister of the Budget, Bassirou Sarr, Senegal stressed that it intends to continue the treatment of its debt in accordance with the principles of the G20 Common Framework, while seeking to learn lessons and address the challenges identified in previous cases. Commitments in this sense concern the monitoring of an accelerated and predictable timetable for the processing of their claim, without forgetting the rapid clarification of the key elements underlying the Ptds, including the evaluation of contributions.

Faced with external creditors, Senegal has also set November 2026 as the target deadline for the completion of the various frameworks of the partnership with the IMF. This must materialize through the approval of the program by the Board of Directors. With this in mind, a meeting will be held during the month of November. In December, the state plans to sign agreements in principle with the Committees of Official Creditors (Occ) and the ad hoc group of bondholders. Then, at the beginning of 2027, the agreements will be implemented.

During the work, the IMF, according to a source who participated in this meeting, did not speak much. “He let Senegal present its vision and come back to the evolution of the debt and the corrective measures,” she informs. On the investor side, this exercise was well appreciated. However, some bilateral creditors have requested non-favoritism treatment. At the end of the work, Senegal reassured its partners regarding the periodic organization of this type of meeting.

The stock of external debt is 18,300 billion FCfa, including 8,500 billion owed to development banks. The commercial debt amounts to 5,440 billion FCFA and the bilateral debt to 4,369 billion.

Demba DIENG