The Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), Buah Saidy, has announced that the country’s overall deficit, including grants, improved to D5.2 billion, down from D6.8 billion in 2024. He made the disclosure on Thursday, May 7, 2026, during his appearance before the Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly for the presentation and consideration of the CBG’s 2024 Annual Report.
Governor Saidy attributed the improvement to strong domestic revenue mobilization, supported by ongoing reforms in tax administration and fiscal consolidation efforts.
At the same session, he reported that the total domestic debt stock rose to D46.4 billion. On financial sector stability, he highlighted measures to strengthen banks’ capital adequacy, including raising the minimum paid-up capital to D500 million, adopting risk-based supervision, and rolling out new corporate governance guidelines — all aimed at enhancing resilience and safeguarding financial stability.
On the external sector, Saidy noted that the Central Bank continues to maintain adequate international reserves, standing at US$535.6 million as of December 2024, sufficient to cover more than 4.7 months of imports. He further reported that the current account deficit moderated to US$75.9 million in 2025, compared to US$103.9 million in 2024.
Domestically, the Governor highlighted stronger economic performance, with real GDP growth rising to 5.3 percent in 2025, up from 5.0 percent in 2023, driven largely by improvements in the services sector, particularly tourism and industry.
On inflation, Saidy said headline inflation declined significantly, easing to 10.2 percent in December 2025, from 17.3 percent the previous year. He attributed this to a tight monetary policy stance and a sharp moderation in food prices.
