# Senegal’s Crisis: Why Debt Restructuring May Be the Least Bad Option.

1 Opinion March 16, 2026By Abdoulaye Ndiaye

The Conversation ![Abdoulaye Ndiaye profile photo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/media/andiaye.jpg?itok=WCiwCuSF)In September 2024, the new government announced that it found irregularities in debt reports. In response, the IMF froze its US$1.8 billion credit facility for Senegal in October 2024.

A few months later, in February 2025, Senegal’s Court of Auditors, the country’s supreme auditor of public finances, found that the deficit had been underestimated by 5.6% of GDP per year between 2019 and 2023. As a result, the debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 74% to 100%. Between March 2025 and October 2025, despite several visits to the country, the IMF program remained on hold.

The government later published a revised 2025 budget and medium-term outlook. It then estimated the debt at 120% of GDP. A month later, an IMF visit was extended by two weeks. Tension between the IMF and the Senegalese government became public. As a direct consequence, government bonds collapsed. Under pressure, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko pledged to do everything in his power to avoid default.

Read the full [*The Conversation* article](https://theconversation.com/senegals-crisis-why-debt-restructuring-may-be-the-least-bad-option-276663).
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*Abdoulaye Ndiaye is Assistant Professor of Economics at NYU Stern.*

## More from Abdoulaye Ndiaye

- [Getting Senegal out of the Debt Crisis in Three Points.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/getting-senegal-out-debt-crisis-three-points)
- [African Energy Boom Sparks Power Grab in Senegal.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/african-energy-boom-sparks-power-grab-senegal)