Senegal must clear billions of dollars in payment arrears as part of efforts to restore its public finances, Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo said on Tuesday.The arrears, which stood at 1.956-trillion CFA francs ($3.5bn or R56.01bn) as of March 2025, risk stalling economic activity in Senegal and triggering job losses, he added.Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Senegal said they had reached a staff-level agreement for a $2.2bn, three-year loan package. A previous IMF programme was suspended in 2024 after the disclosure of misreported debt under the previous Senegalese government.Lo said the West African country will not pursue a debt restructuring, opting instead to reprofile.“Reprofiling involves extending maturities and renegotiating interest rates,” he said, adding that roughly 30 mining agreements are currently being renegotiated.Senegal’s ministry ‌of economy and finance said last week it had agreed to an “enhanced common framework” to restore “debt sustainability”, adding that debt denominated in CFA would be excluded from the reworking.Exactly what Senegal means by an “enhanced common framework” is unclear, and Dakar has given little detail on its plans.The G20 Common Framework is a mechanism set up during the pandemic to coordinate restructurings among official creditors, including Paris Club members and newer lenders such as China.While intended to speed up debt relief and ensure comparable treatment among creditors, it has been criticised for lengthy negotiations and uncertain outcomes.Although Senegal says it will not restructure, investors often regard maturity extensions and interest rate reductions as forms of debt restructuring as they alter original terms.Reuters