Dakar: Faye sacks Prime Minister Sonko and dissolves government, debt at 132 percent of GDP

Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Monday dismissed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the entire government, after months of open tensions between the two former political allies who together delivered the historic victory of the Pastef party at the presidential election of March 2024. The dismissal was announced by a brief decree from the presidential office in Dakar, without prior notice, at a moment when the economic situation in the West African republic has worsened dramatically, with public debt that, according to International Monetary Fund data, has crossed 132 percent of gross domestic product.

For Serbia, which in February 2026 renewed a bilateral investment protection agreement with Senegal and which, through the National Bank of Serbia, holds a smaller investment in West African regional bonds, political instability in Dakar carries indirect economic implications. Belgrade firms that over the past five years have developed a presence in Senegal’s construction sector, including Energoprojekt Holding with a contract for a segment of the Dakar-Tambacounda motorway, are following the situation closely, because every change of government brings fresh negotiations on the terms of contracts already signed.

The conflict between Faye and Sonko, which opened up at the end of last year over the management of energy contracts with French firms and over moves towards structural reform of the fisheries sector, escalated after an April cabinet meeting at which the prime minister openly challenged the president’s right to decide on international arrangements on his own. Pastef, until recently a unified party, formally announced its split into two factions in March, with Sonko as leader of the radical wing and Faye as the representative of a more pragmatic approach to relations with Brussels, Paris and Washington.

Economic consequences for one of West Africa’s most open economies

Dakar over the past nineteen months has been hit by a combination of factors that have brought public finances to the point where the IMF in May issued a sharp warning about the risk of “a Greek trajectory” if the government does not move to budget consolidation and debt restructuring with private creditors. Senegal’s gross domestic product is roughly 33 billion dollars, meaning the country’s public debt is close to 44 billion dollars, with a significant share in eurobonds that in recent months have fallen to levels of distressed trading, with yields above 17 percent annually.

Joseph Sany, vice president of the Africa Centre at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, in a short analysis for Jeune Afrique said that “Sonko’s dismissal is a necessary but not sufficient condition for stabilisation, because Senegal must, within the next six months, agree restructuring with the Paris Club and with private creditors.” Sany’s estimate is that if Faye fails to form a technocratic government with credibility with international investors, the IMF programme approved in March could be suspended, which would lead to an unavoidable currency shock for the CFA franc.

Brussels careful, Paris under pressure, Washington more withdrawn

Brussels, through EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, welcomed the “democratic management of the crisis in Dakar” and offered technical support for the next phase of talks with the IMF, but without a concrete announcement of additional financial aid. International Partnerships Commissioner Jozef Sikela is expected, at Monday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, to open the topic of structural support to Senegal, particularly in fisheries, where the EU has a joint agreement worth 16 million euros annually that expires in October.

Paris is under particular pressure, because French firms TotalEnergies and Engie are present in Senegal with combined investments of more than four billion euros, including offshore gas fields and new renewables. Sonko during his mandate openly demanded renegotiation of concession contracts, which kept Paris in a passive position. Faye now faces a choice of whether to continue the line or to offer French firms a more predictable legal framework. Washington, after Donald Trump’s arrival in his second term, has cut direct development assistance to Senegal by 40 percent.

The next concrete date is the IMF meeting

The next concrete date is the IMF mission’s meeting with Senegal’s new finance minister, scheduled for June 17 in Dakar, where the terms of the second tranche of the approved 1.8 billion dollar programme will be finalised. Faye on Tuesday announced he will name a new government before June 5, with priority on the finance, fisheries and energy ministries, the sectors with the largest international stake over the next six months.

What do you think, has Faye, by sacking Sonko, taken the necessary step to stabilise Senegal, or is this a signal of a deeper political rift in the country?