Name: Senegal financial crisis after massive debts uncovered
Uploaded: 2025-11-09T06:29:00.152Z
Duration: 3 min 15 s
Description: Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, is calling on his supporters to rally behind his government as it attempts to deal with a deepening debt crisis. The IMF has frozen a $1.8 billion loan after uncovering billions in hidden borrowing by the previous administration.

Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, is calling on his supporters to rally behind his government as it attempts to deal with a deepening debt crisis. The IMF has frozen a $1.8 billion loan after uncovering billions in hidden borrowing by the previous administration.

Dakar

Senegal is experiencing a significant financial crisis following the revelation of a $7 billion deficit, which has pushed the country's debt to among the highest levels in Africa. The situation has severely impacted public services, especially healthcare, where hospitals are understaffed and patients are required to pay for basic care.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sanko has sought financial assistance from international partners as negotiations with the IMF remain deadlocked and foreign aid has been reduced. Health workers have gone on strike demanding better conditions, while millions of women face reduced access to essential maternal and reproductive health services.

Senegal financial crisis after massive debts uncovered

Inside the delivery ward at Abbas Endow Hospital in Dakar, several women are in labor, but there are only three midwives to care for them. Some whisper prayers, others cry out their pain, calling for God or for medicine. For many, it's their first time. No husband, no family, just each other. At the center of the chaos, Khadiyan Jai, here to bring order. They call her the mother of all mothers, 30 hours without rest, still on her feet. She soothes and cares, delivering life in a system that's struggling to deliver for its people. We can perform 10 to 15 cesarean sections a day and about the same number of regular deliveries and we are only three midwives and two doctors on call. We are overwhelmed. Each birth is a small miracle and a quiet indictment. Senegal's new government promised to protect the most vulnerable. Overworked and underpaid health workers have gone on strike demanding better working conditions. The government must hire more staff. If we strike, patients suffer, but we have no choice. Public health is the state's responsibility. A year after Prime Minister Ousmane Sanko revealed a $7 billion hole in state coffers, he blamed on the previous government, Senegal's debt keeps climbing, now among the highest in Africa. The IMF has yet to decide if Senegal must repay part of the missing funds. Talks are at a deadlock and no new loans will be released until a deal is reached. We discussed the transfers that would be part of next year's budget, which contains I think about 35 billion CFA in transfers to vulnerable households and how to protect and even increase these transfers over the medium term so that these households are protected. Cash-strapped Sanko has traveled to China, Turkey and the Middle East in search for funds as he faces mounting discontent at home. With the health minister no longer able to count on major funding from the U.S. government after the Trump administration's decision to slash foreign aid. Funds the maternal and reproductive health services millions of women depend on have been hit the hardest. This is a public hospital, but the patients waiting here will have to pay to meet a doctor. There's the cost of the medicine and even basic medical interventions come at a fee. And so it all adds up, making health care unaffordable for many Senegalese. Under pressure, Sanko has called for a patriotic rally, pointing fingers at foreign lenders and past leaders for the country's economic hardship. He had promised to lift people from pain and deliver a better life. But there seems to be no end to the suffering and the wait for the new life they were promised. Nicholas Honk, Al Jazeera, Dakar.

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