Senegal owes local businesses nearly 3.5 billion dollars and says it will pay it back without a full debt restructuring.

Senegal is under pressure to clear 1.956 trillion CFA francs or about 3.5 billion dollars in payment arrears to restore its public finances.

Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo told parliament on Tuesday that failure to pay risks stalling the economy and causing job losses.

The update comes just days after Senegal and the IMF reached a staff level agreement for a 2.2 billion dollar three year loan package.

The previous IMF programme was suspended in 2024 after the government revealed debt had been misreported under the former administration.

Since then public debt has ballooned to over 100 percent of GDP, with some estimates near 119 percent, forcing Dakar to raise more than 3 trillion CFA on the regional market in 2025.

Lo said Senegal will not restructure. It will reprofile instead, which he described as extending maturities and renegotiating interest rates.

He added that about 30 mining agreements are being renegotiated to lift revenue.

The finance ministry says it has agreed an enhanced common framework to restore debt sustainability but CFA denominated debt will be excluded. Details remain thin.

The G20 Common Framework was created during the pandemic to coordinate relief among Paris Club and newer lenders like China, but it has been criticised for long delays in cases like Zambia and Ethiopia.

Investors note that even if Dakar calls it reprofiling, any extension of maturities and cut in rates alters original terms and is often treated as a form of restructuring.

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