Senegal posted a goods trade deficit of 29.5bn FCFA (€45mn) in September, after a 160bn FCFA (€244mn) surplus in August, according to statistics agency ANSD. Exports fell 20.4% from the previous month to 566bn FCFA (€863mn). Meanwhile, imports rose 8.1% to 595.6bn FCFA (€908mn). The balance for the first nine months of 2026 was a surplus of 56bn FCFA (€85mn), compared with a deficit of 1,127bn FCFA (€1.72bn) a year earlier, ANSD said.
Analysis: Crude oil drove most of the trade-balance reversal. Crude exports fell to 123.3bn FCFA (€188mn) from 206.7bn FCFA (€315mn) in August. Meanwhile, crude purchases resumed at 53bn FCFA (€81mn) after almost none the month before. Oil shipments vary monthly, so a single month reveals little about the trend. Over the first nine months, exports rose 24.5% and imports fell 3.4% from a year earlier, by our calculation. The published January–August surplus of 93bn FCFA (€142mn) plus September's deficit gives 63.5bn, not the 56bn now reported, suggesting that ANSD revised earlier months. October figures, expected in early December, should show whether the annual surplus holds.
Source: ANSD, ANSD monthly foreign trade note, September 2026, as reported by Sika Finance (November 5, 2026), September 2026 and January–September 2026 and January–September 2025; ANSD, ANSD monthly foreign trade note, September 2026, as reported by APS (via allAfrica, November 6, 2026), September 2026; ANSD, ANSD monthly foreign trade bulletin, August 2026 (via Sikafinance, 12 Oct 2026), August 2026 and January–August 2026; ANSD, ANSD monthly foreign trade note, September 2026, as reported by APS (via allAfrica, November 6, 2026) and Sika Finance, September 2026