The Gambia’s debt service payment has increased by 11.1% to 5 billion dalasi ($95 million) last year, compared with 4.5 billion dalasi a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance.
From this figure, external debt service payment represents 1.9 billion dalasi ($36M), while domestic debt service payment was 3.1 billion dalasi ($59M).
Principal payments of $25.3 million (D1.3 billion) represent 70% of the total external debt service payments, and the remaining $10.8 million (D570.6 million) on interest payments represent 30% respectively.
The country’s total debt stock stood at $1.69 billion (D88.93 billion) by the end of last year, with external debt piling up to $981.45 million (58.19%) and domestic debt $705.01 million (41.81%).
The nominal debt as a percentage of GDP increased to 84.74% in 2021, compared with 84.1% a year earlier.
The “slight increase” is as a result of the partial debt restructuring programme and new disbursements of ongoing projects, according to the Ministry of Finance.
On Thursday, President Adama Barrow noted that The Gambia didn’t benefit from a “debt service suspension” this year, as was the case in 2020, when he delivered an address to the nation.
In 2020, Gambia benefitted from a G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) which provided relief of 287.24M dalasi in debt service payments.
Debt relief was secured from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the People’s Republic of China.
The Gambia plans to promote domestic debt market development by selling bonds.
The Ministry of Finance said in June that it is planning to sell 5 to 7 billion dalasi worth of 3-year or 5-year government bonds.
Proceeds from the bonds are intended for restructuring domestic debt and infrastructure financing, it said in its 2nd quarter public finance management (PFM) progress report.
The issuance of medium to long-term bonds has started, with a fully subscribed 1.5 billion [dalasi] bond issued in the first quarter of 2022. The same amount was issued in the second quarter, but undersubscribed.
