The "hidden debt" affair, which had become Senegal's major political and economic saga since the March 2024 change of power, is going through a period of significant turbulence. In the space of a week, two major announcements have shaken the foundations of a narrative that had previously justified drastic financial adjustments and strained the country's relations with its international partners.

In light of Ousmane Sonko's recent remarks and the final clarification from the outgoing president of the Court of Auditors, Mamadou Faye, a question now arises in the public debate: was the trial of former President Macky Sall's management based on proven accounting reality or on a staged event for purely electoral purposes?

Ousmane Sonko's rhetorical pivot and the Court of Auditors' caution

The first blow to the narrative of the falsified accounts came from its principal architect. On June 15, 2026, in an interview with RFI and France 24, Ousmane Sonko, the former Prime Minister recently installed as President of the National Assembly, made a notable semantic distinction. Revisiting his accusations of September 2024, he acknowledged that he "did not have full control" at the time and clarified that he was speaking "as the head of a political party" rather than in his capacity as head of the executive branch. For the opposition, and particularly for the Alliance for the Republic (APR), this backpedaling amounts to an admission of a political stance adopted on the eve of the snap legislative elections of November 2024.

This political nuance found a purely technical echo a few days later. Interviewed by the daily newspaper *L'Observateur* on Thursday, June 18, 2026, on the eve of handing over the reins to his successor Abdoul Magib Guèye, the outgoing president of the Court of Auditors, Mamadou Faye, was categorical:

"You will not see any mention of 'hidden debt' on any page of the report. [...] The Court of Auditors did its job, according to the standards, by calculating the debt-to-GDP ratio using the TOFE method."

The magistrate explained that the discrepancies in the figures stemmed primarily from a methodological difference between the traditional budgeting method (revenue minus expenditure as a percentage of GDP) and that of the State Financial Operations Table (TOFE). This technical clarification, according to supporters of the old regime, undermines the accusation of intentional concealment or a state conspiracy to falsify public accounts.

The academic nuance in the face of accusations of disavowal

However, this reinterpretation of the 2024 timeline is not unanimously accepted within the academic and economic community. In a rigorous analysis, Professor Amath Ndiaye of FASEG-UCAD calls for a much more attentive and less binary reading of Ousmane Sonko's statements on France 24. According to the academic, it is by no means a repudiation or an admission of falsehood.

Professor Amath Ndiaye first points out that Ousmane Sonko has never contested the existence of the hidden debt revealed by the audits, thus maintaining the validity of the irregularities raised. Furthermore, regarding the highly sensitive notion of "odious debt," the Speaker of the National Assembly reaffirmed his firm conviction that a portion of the debt fell into this category. The nuance expressed by Sonko simply reflects the clash between the freedom of speech of a party leader and the heavy institutional, legal, and diplomatic constraints imposed on a "mere Prime Minister," who lacks all the necessary leverage to commit the State to a procedure for reclassifying its sovereign debt.

Macky Sall's twelve years in a new light

For Macky Sall's supporters, the successive pronouncements of the Court of Auditors nonetheless sound like a necessary rehabilitation of a twelve-year record structured around the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE). They point out that under the former president's leadership (2012-2024), Senegal posted average economic growth exceeding 5.3%, compared to 2.9% in the preceding period (2005-2011).

This momentum materialized in a national and international infrastructure program, marked by the expansion of the highway network, the commissioning of the Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD), the emergence of the Diamniadio urban center, and the launch of the Regional Express Train (TER) in January 2022. Added to this is Senegal's entry into the circle of hydrocarbon-producing countries thanks to the Sangomar and Grande Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) fields, allowing the country to join the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in March 2024. On the diplomatic front, the country's influence reached new heights, highlighted by its presidency of the African Union in 2022, its handling of the Gambian crisis in 2017, and Macky Sall's current position as a key figure to succeed António Guterres as Secretary-General of the UN in 2027.

The economic cost of a political statement

While the semantic debate rages between explaining the situation through institutional constraints and accusing it of manipulation, the economic impact of this crisis of confidence is very real. Following government statements in September 2024 and the subsequent publication of the Court of Auditors' report in February 2025 – which revised the public debt to nearly 100% of GDP for 2023 and the deficit to 12.3% – international financial institutions reacted strongly.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had suspended its $1.8 billion extended credit facility program, while rating agencies Moody's (in February 2025) and Standard & Poor's downgraded Senegal's sovereign rating.

Today, the APR denounces the direct consequences of what it calls a "distortion of reality." According to the party of the former president, by choosing to alert markets and lenders through aggressive communication even before the completion of a thorough audit, the executive branch has provoked an artificial financial panic. APR spokesperson Alioune Badara Coulibaly directly accuses Ousmane Sonko of having plunged the country into crisis, citing a ruined economy with outstanding debt of 16 trillion CFA francs and a public deficit projected to reach 5.2 trillion CFA francs by 2026, placing the country under the threat of creditors.

Analysis of this sequence of events reveals that the trial of Macky Sall concerning the "hidden debt" is now navigating between two fault lines. On one side, his supporters see it as a collapse of the official narrative in the face of the Court of Auditors' findings and the admission of political posturing during the 2024 elections. On the other, proponents of the new governance, joined by analysts such as Professor Amath Ndiaye, point to the persistence of accounting discrepancies and the complexity of government action regarding the debt.

As Senegal navigates turbulent economic waters in 2026, marked by significant strain on purchasing power and credit, the debate shifts from fiscal austerity to political accountability. The boundary between freedom of party discourse and the principle of state continuity has become the primary point of contention in a rapidly evolving Senegalese political landscape.