Former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Lamin Camara, has issued a stark warning about Gambia’s deepening macroeconomic imbalances, blaming global conflict and calling for immediate action to prevent a fiscal collapse.
In a detailed statement released Sunday, Camara linked rising fuel prices and imported commodity costs to the US-Israel-Iran war, which he said is fuelling inflation threats and economic hardship. With the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) announcing foreign reserves exceeding $500 million, he urged the bank to draw down at least one or two months’ import cover and inject dollars into the market to strengthen the Dalasi.
“This will potentially help in fuel pricing and imported commodities, helping maintain our single-digit inflation,” Camara said. He questioned past interventions, asking whether millions of dollars previously given to businesspeople to stabilize prices had been repaid or treated as grants, and demanded an update on a Ministry-guaranteed Mega Bank loan to a private company, described as a pilot project.
Camara painted a grim picture of the 2026 budget. Without grants, the Gambia Revenue Authority’s target of 27 billion dalasis is already exhausted by statutory spending: 13 billion on debt service and 10 billion on salaries and allowances, leaving nothing for subsidies, infrastructure, or other sectors. Domestic debt has ballooned from 23 billion to 48 billion dalasis in nine years, he noted.
“Without grants, where are we subsidizing fuel from? It will be through domestic borrowing – what we call in Mandinka ‘bou ku sumunala’ (washing feces with urine). It is not prudent,” Camara said. He argued that the same borrowing finances roads and other projects, which are falsely presented as taxpayer-funded.
The veteran economist called for urgent, inward-looking solutions amid worsening global geopolitics and supply chain disruptions. He praised the Office of the Vice President’s monitoring efforts. Still, he insisted that real relief lies in tighter fiscal management: immediate budget cuts, domestic resource mobilization, and the recovery of dormant funds.
Camara highlighted unutilized balances from the Japanese rice sales program – reportedly over 200 million dalasis as of 2019 – and proceeds from the phasing-out small ruminant project’s 3-million-dollar microfinance component. He suggested repealing certain acts to reclaim funds held by semi-autonomous agencies.
Looking ahead, he warned that public debt could exceed 140 billion dalasis by 2024, according to projections. While 2026 debt service stands at 13 billion dalasis, servicing of post-2017 loans begins in 2027, potentially overwhelming future budgets.
Camara ended with a sobering appeal to leaders: “Are we really serving our people with conscience, honesty, and by the oath we swear?”
