The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it had made "significant progress" with Senegal toward a new loan programme while the Fund continued an internal investigation into how it failed to detect billions of dollars in unreported debt, Reuters reported. Senegal is trying to tame debts that the Fund said hit 132% of GDP at the end of 2024 after the current leadership uncovered billions in debts that were not reported by the previous administration.

The International Monetary Fund said it is assessing the viability of Senegal's financing strategy as it looks to finalize an agreement on reforms to underpin a new program, an IMF official said on Thursday, Reuters reported. A team of officials from the IMF completed a mission to Dakar without outlining a new support package after the previous one was suspended following findings of debt misreporting. Political infighting and disagreements with the Fund over a possible debt restructuring have weighed on the country's bonds.

Senegalese bonds plunged to fresh record lows, placing the West African nation into debt-distress territory, according to a measure widely considered to be the threshold that locks countries out of global capital markets, Bloomberg News reported. The sovereign risk premium on Senegal’s bonds over US Treasuries widened to 1 077 basis points on Wednesday — the highest on record, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. data. That places the country among other African issuers whose debt is trading at or near 1 000 — seen as a marker of distress.

Kenya is one step closer to regulating crypto in the country, as its parliament enacted the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill 2025 last week, a senior parliament member told Reuters. The bill will now need to be signed by Kenyan President William Ruto in order to create the legislative framework, which regulates crypto service providers and addresses potential misuse in the industry. "We are hoping that Kenya can be now the gateway into Africa," finance committee chairman Kuria Kimani told Reuters.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has launched a digital payments system to cut transaction costs by allowing businesses to settle deals in local currencies, it said on Thursday, Reuters reported. COMESA, which has 21 member states including Egypt, Kenya and Ethiopia, joins efforts by the African continent to push for local currency payments systems to cut trade costs by eliminating the need to convert local currencies into hard currencies, mostly U.S. dollars, for cross-border payments.

Police are describing the daylight shooting of South African insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk as a "deliberate hit," IOL.co.za reported. Van Niekerk was killed in the boardroom of his Saxonwold, Johannesburg office on Friday. The 43-year-old was at the time of his death reportedly working on high-profile cases, including a major insolvency case linked to an alleged Ponzi scheme. According to police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, nothing was stolen.

Ugandan conglomerate Madhvani Group is in talks with Cerberus Capital Management LP for a private credit loan of about $190 million to fund its acquisition of distressed Indian glass bottle maker Hindustan National Glass & Industries Ltd, Bloomberg News reported. The parties are discussing a bilateral private credit loan with a tenor of about three-years. Discussions are on-going and details are subject to change.

The state-owned National Oil Corporation of Kenya entered its March “rescue” deal with French energy firm RUBiS Energy already in a condition that the Auditor General regarded as terminal, the Kenyan Wall Street reported. The French firm agreed to inject KSh 3 billion in working capital and KSh 3 billion to revamp the outlets, in exchange for 30% of profits from fuel sales. The state retained ownership of upstream and strategic stock holding units. However, behind the transaction lies a corporation rotting from within.