Buah Saidy, Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia
By Ramatoulie Jawo
Buah Saidy, Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, revealed during the first quarterly review of domestic and global economic conditions for 2025 that the stock of domestic debt increased by 12.2%, reaching D46.4 billion in 2024, up from D41.3 billion in December 2023.
Despite this rise, he noted that the domestic debt-to-GDP ratio declined from 28.2% in 2023 to 26.9% in 2024.“Short term government securities, with maturity of one year or less, accounted for 48.6 percent of the total domestic debt stock. The weighted average treasury bill rate declined, from 11.3 percent in 2023 to 10.4 percent in 2024,” Governor Saidy stated.
He highlighted that the interbank Dalasi market remains stable, with strong trading activity. Total trade volume amounted to D13.1 billion in 2024, slightly lower than the D14.2 billion recorded in December 2023.
The Governor further explained that the weighted average interest rate in the interbank market dropped from 7.5% in 2023 to 5.6% in 2024, following the three-month treasury bill rate.
On financial soundness indicators, he reported that the industry’s aggregate risk-weighted capital adequacy ratio rose to 28.5% in December 2024, up from 24.9% in September 2024. He attributed this increase to the rise in paid-up capital, in line with the capital augmentation directive issued by the Bank in 2023.“The liquidity ratio of the industry slightly moderated to 76.1 percent in December 2024 from 81.8% reported in September 2024 the industry’s non-performing loans slightly improved in December 2024 to stand at 14.6 percent from the 15.8 percent reported in September 2024 the Bank’s latest stress testing results suggest that the banking sector remains resilient to potential capital and liquidity shocks,” he concluded.