Gabon Overtakes Senegal in the Race for Bond Market Confidence

Senegal saw its public debt revised to 99.7% of GDP for 2023, following October 2024 revelations about undeclared commitments by the administration of Macky Sall, a correction that led to several sovereign rating downgrades by Moody's and S&P in 2024. Gabon, led since April 2025 by President Brice Oligui Nguema, elected with 90.35% of the vote following the August 30, 2023 military coup that ended 56 years of Bongo family rule, has embarked on a political normalization welcomed by some bond investors. Financial Afrik stated in its August 10, 2026 edition that the Central African country has now surpassed Senegal in the race for financial market confidence, although the specific indicators used for this ranking - bond spreads, ratings, or Eurobond yields - were not made accessible in the consulted content. For Dakar, this loss of relative ground translates into higher financing costs and complicates the renegotiation of the IMF program, suspended since 2024. For Libreville, a resurgence of confidence would facilitate access to Eurobonds to refinance debt backed by oil and manganese revenues. If confirmed by verifiable market data, this reversal would be due less to a structural improvement in Gabon's fundamentals - oil accounts for nearly 40% of state revenue, and the country is the world's second largest producer