Senegal's Sonko Softens Stance on Debt Restructuring as IMF Talks Loom
Last update: June 15, 2026
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After months of fierce opposition, Senegal’s political heavyweight Ousmane Sonko is changing his tune on debt restructuring and it could reshape the country’s next IMF deal.
Senegal’s ousted prime minister Ousmane Sonko has dialled down his hard-line stance on debt restructuring, cbinews.tv reports.
Speaking in an interview broadcast on Monday, Sonko said he doesn’t hold “rigid positions” on the issue. This is a clear step back from his earlier outright rejection of any such move.
It’s a big shift. Back in November, Sonko told a rally that the IMF was pressing for debt restructuring and called the idea a “disgrace”. But now, he’s saying policymakers need to be pragmatic as Senegal faces a growing debt crisis.
For context, Sonko was dismissed as prime minister by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who dissolved the government last month. But lawmakers then voted to make Sonko speaker of the National Assembly. That move handed him real influence over government policy.
That matters because, in his new role, Sonko could potentially obstruct Faye’s agenda. This includes reforms needed for a new IMF programme, with an IMF team expected to restart talks this week.
The debt problems stem from misreported figures under former President Macky Sall’s government. The IMF suspended Senegal’s previous $1.8 billion lending programme once the discrepancies came to light.
In his interview with newsmen, Sonko explained that he’d opposed what he called “reckless restructuring” before. His argument was that Senegal was keeping up with debt repayments and had solid growth prospects, so it wasn’t necessary.
But he admitted things have deteriorated since then. He pointed partly to the impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
“Today, I believe we can assess developments step by step,” Sonko said. “We are not here to obstruct.”
Still, he drew a line. Sonko warned he’d push back on any approach that compromises Senegal’s long-term economic goals. Short-term fixes alone, he said, won’t cut it.
The stakes are high. The IMF says Senegal’s debts hit 132% of gross domestic product at the end of 2024.
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