The government of Gambia has proposed to cut its budget for 2017 by 6% to 12.24 billion dalasi ($266.8 million). This decision comes in a bid to contain public debt which exploded over the past years.

According to Reuters, the country’s public debt which already represented 83.3% of its gross domestic product between 2013 and 2016, rose to 120.3% of this value, last year, under former president, Yahya Jammeh.

About 20% of this year’s budget will be financed by development partners such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union. The budget was drawn as Gambia currently faces an economic crisis, marked by low foreign exchange reserves, barely sufficient to sustain the economy for two months.

The actual government says former president, Jammeh, has embezzled significant amounts of money over the 22 years of his rule. After losing the recent election, the leader was forced to quit his position.

Aaron Akinocho