Gambia plans 16.17 billion dalasis for debt in 2027
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Kerr Fatou
The Gambian draft budget provides 16.17 billion dalasis for debt servicing in 2027, or 37.2% of recurrent expenditure. Presented on 23 October by Finance Minister Seedy Keita, the bill still has to be debated and approved by the National Assembly, reports Kerr Fatou.
The Gambian government plans to spend 16.17 billion dalasis on debt servicing in 2027, equivalent to 37.2% of recurrent expenditure and 33.28% of expenditure financed from domestic resources. The figure appears in the 2027 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly on Friday 23 October by Seedy Keita, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs.
The draft budget provides for 59.24 billion dalasis in public expenditure, up 13.1% from the budget adopted for 2026, against 56.93 billion dalasis in revenue and grants. Debt servicing would thus exceed the combined allocations of the ministries of Health and Basic and Secondary Education, according to the bill.
The Gambian government estimates that the rising cost of debt could reduce fiscal room for manoeuvre and limit resources for priority programmes. It also identifies regional and global conflicts, climate change, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in implementing public policies, refinancing and contingent liabilities of state-owned enterprises as risks.
The public-sector wage bill is expected to rise from 10.2 to 11.2 billion dalasis, an increase of 9.8%. The bill was presented after the publication, on 29 September, of the 2027 Gambian budget and initial forecasts for Gambian debt servicing.
