Equatorial Guinea Targets Balanced 2027 Budget After CFA37.4bn Deficit

Equatorial Guinea's finance ministry has presented a balanced 2027 draft budget of CFA1.119725 trillion in revenue and spending to the Senate, after reporting a CFA37.416 billion deficit for 2025. The figures, disclosed in an official account dated 3 November 2026, describe a government proposal, not a budget already enacted or an independently audited outcome.

The ministry said its 2025 closing accounts recorded CFA1.213017 trillion in revenue and CFA1.250433 trillion in executed spending. Subtracting the two figures gives the stated CFA37.416 billion deficit. Non-oil revenue accounted for CFA283.505 billion and was reported to have risen 8% from 2024. These are the ministry's stated budget-execution figures; the underlying line-by-line accounts and audit opinion were not supplied in the announcement.

For the first six months of 2026, the government reported CFA507.042 billion in collected revenue and CFA424.361 billion in executed expenditure, a provisional CFA82.681 billion surplus. A half-year surplus is not the same as a full-year surplus: later revenue, spending, financing and arrears can change the annual outcome. The ministry's 2027 proposal is therefore a forward-looking fiscal target, not evidence that the 2025 deficit has been permanently eliminated.

The government identified structurally declining hydrocarbon production as a pressure on its finances and said it wants stronger non-oil revenue collection, expenditure controls and investment in productive sectors. The finance presentation was led by delegated minister Milagrosa Obono Angue and covered the 2025 accounts, the first-half 2026 execution report and the proposed 2027 budget.

An independent February 2026 assessment by the International Monetary Fund had already described the strain from falling oil output. The IMF estimated that economic activity contracted 6.4% in 2025 and that public debt reached about 39.2% of GDP at year-end, while noting steps toward fiscal adjustment and tax-administration reforms. Those IMF estimates are from an earlier assessment and should not be treated as a direct audit of the newly presented 2027 proposal. The IMF's debt and macroeconomic measures also do not share the same denominator as the government's nominal CFA budget balance.

The immediate accountability questions are whether the Senate will adopt the CFA1.119725 trillion plan unchanged, how much revenue is expected from oil and non-oil sources, what assumptions underpin the balanced target, and whether the full 2025 accounts and 2026 execution tables will be published for scrutiny. A subsequent approved budget, audit, or execution report could materially change the picture.

The ministry's official 3 November presentation is available at https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticias/milagrosa_obono_presenta_ante_el_senado_la_situacion_de_las_finanzas_publicas_y_las_previsiones_presupuestarias_para_2027. The IMF's February 2026 third-review statement is available at https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2026/02/06/pr-26035-equatorial-guinea-imf-approves-3rd-rev-of-staff-monitored-program.