IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a press conference during the IMF/World Bank annual meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on October 16, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
Washington: The IMF acted as soon as it could after discovering that Senegal had misreported more than $11 billion in debt, the head of the international financial institution said Thursday.
After taking power last year, Senegal's new government said the previous administration of Macky Sall had significantly under-represented its levels of debt, sparking an International Monetary Fund investigation which concluded the authorities had wildly misrepresented its 2023 budget deficit.
The west African nation is now struggling to right its finances as it grapples with public debt amounting to about 119 percent of its GDP and a budget deficit of 14 percent.
The Senegalese authorities are now in talks with the IMF about a new program to replace a $1.8 billion credit line suspended by the institution when the debt underreporting came to light.
"Assessing why this happened, what is the magnitude, and what to do about it took some time," IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters at the Fund's headquarters in Washington on Thursday. "But now we have clarity."
"We acted as soon as conditions allowed it," she continued, adding that the Fund had responded "immediately" to the new administration's request for a loan program.
Georgieva told reporters she had met with the Senegalese delegation as part of the Fund and World Bank's semi-annual gathering of central bankers and finance ministers in Washington this week, and that "very constructive" discussions had been had about a new program.
"We are dispatching a team immediately after the annual meetings to Senegal," she said.
