{"id":22450,"date":"2026-01-15T10:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/new-imf-mission-chief-to-visit-to-senegal-next-week\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:33:26","slug":"new-imf-mission-chief-to-visit-to-senegal-next-week","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/new-imf-mission-chief-to-visit-to-senegal-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"New IMF\u00a0Mission Chief\u00a0to visit to Senegal next week"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The International Monetary Fund&#8217;s (IMF) new Mission\u00a0Chief for Senegal will make a short trip to the West African nation early next week, an IMF Spokesperson\u00a0said, but no substantive negotiations are expected.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Senegal is grappling with a debt burden that the Fund said hit 132% of gross domestic product at the end of 2024 after the country&#8217;s current leadership uncovered billions of Dollars\u00a0in borrowing not reported by the previous administration.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The IMF froze a $1.8 billion lending programme over the controversy, forcing Senegal to rely heavily on regional debt auctions to meet its financing needs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The government has for months been in talks with the Fund to establish a new programme.<\/div>\n<div>Mission Chief Mercedes Vera Martin will visit Senegal with her predecessor, Edward Gemayel, for a &#8220;primary introductory visit&#8221; early next week, the Spokesperson said late on Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div>Both are expected to meet with Senegalese authorities, but no substantive negotiations are expected in the immediate future, a person familiar with the matter told <i>Reuters.<\/i><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Spokesperson for Senegal&#8217;s Finance and Economy Ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Vera Martin oversaw Zambia&#8217;s debt restructuring as Head of Mission there from 2023 to 2025. Gemayel will take over from her as Zambia Mission\u00a0Chief.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Senegalese authorities have repeatedly ruled out a debt restructuring but have said they hope to finalise a loan programme with the IMF quickly.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15227,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,44],"class_list":["post-22450","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":null,"news_description":"IMF new Mission\u00a0Chief for Senegal will make a short trip to the West Africa","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25747,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22450\/revisions\/25747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=22450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}