Debt payments in low-income countries will reach their highest level since 1998 in 2023, with countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Zambia, and Dominica having external debt payments of over 30 percent of government revenue between 2022-2024.
According to figures released by Debt Justice, external debt payments for 91 countries will average at least 16.3 percent of government revenue in 2023, rising to 16.7 percent in 2024, an increase of over 150 percent since 2011.
Heidi Chow, Executive Director of Debt Justice said, “Debt payments are reaching crisis levels in many countries, hindering the ability of governments to provide public services, fight the climate crisis and respond to economic turmoil. There’s no time to waste, we urgently need fast and comprehensive debt relief schemes across all external creditors, including legislation in the UK and New York to make private lenders take part in debt cancellation”.
According to the report, which cites World Bank data, Sri Lanka, Laos, Pakistan, Zambia, and Dominica have external debt repayments accounting for more than 30 percent of government revenue between 2022 and 2024.
Approximately half of the debt is owed to private lenders, 30 percent to multilateral institutions, 12 percent to Chinese public and private lenders, and 12 percent to other governments.
Mae Buenaventura of the Debt Justice Program of the Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) said, “Debt payments drain Southern countries of much-needed development financing to protect its citizens from the ever-worsening economic and climate crises”.
She added, “Recent developments in Pakistan and Sri Lanka demonstrate how current international debt mechanisms are spectacularly failing to provide the deep, wide, equitable, and permanent debt reduction to prevent the deterioration of living conditions by peoples of the South. Without debt cancellation, Southern debts will continue to rise and along with it, the continued hemorrhage of development finance”.
The 91 countries with their payments in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and the average across the three years, are listed here:
| Country | World Bank income classification | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Average 2022-2024 |
| Sri Lanka | Lower middle | 81.4 | 75.0 | 78.6 | 78.3 |
| Lao PDR | Lower middle | 52.9 | 65.6 | 53.5 | 57.3 |
| Dominica | Upper middle / SIDS | 29.4 | 57.8 | 76.6 | 54.6 |
| Pakistan | Lower middle | 40.0 | 46.7 | 42.5 | 43.0 |
| Zambia | Low | 51.1 | 27.3 | 38.5 | 38.9 |
| Bhutan | Lower middle | 38.9 | 31.9 | 37.5 | 36.1 |
| Mongolia | Lower middle | 28.4 | 21.3 | 51.8 | 33.8 |
| Angola | Lower middle | 30.9 | 35.7 | 33.0 | 33.2 |
| Djibouti | Lower middle | 34.1 | 32.0 | 32.1 | 32.7 |
| Congo, Rep | Lower middle | 37.1 | 29.1 | 22.2 | 29.5 |
| Malawi | Low | 43.2 | 24.6 | 20.2 | 29.3 |
| Tunisia | Lower middle | 24.3 | 30.1 | 32.9 | 29.1 |
| Ghana | Lower middle | 28.2 | 30.5 | 26.6 | 28.4 |
| Mauritania | Lower middle | 26.1 | 29.5 | 27.7 | 27.8 |
| Benin | Lower middle | 23.1 | 27.3 | 31.1 | 27.2 |
| El Salvador | Lower middle | 32.3 | 30.9 | 17.7 | 27.0 |
| Cabo Verde | Lower middle / SIDS | 24.6 | 27.3 | 25.5 | 25.8 |
| Ethiopia | Low | 27.3 | 22.5 | 27.1 | 25.7 |
| Jamaica | Upper middle / SIDS | 25.3 | 23.3 | 28.1 | 25.6 |
| Cote d’Ivoire | Lower middle | 24.8 | 25.9 | 25.3 | 25.4 |
| Maldives | Upper middle / SIDS | 36.8 | 21.2 | 14.0 | 24.0 |
| Senegal | Lower middle | 25.1 | 22.4 | 24.0 | 23.8 |
| Sierra Leone | Low | 22.7 | 23.9 | 24.2 | 23.6 |
| Gambia | Low | 23.1 | 23.7 | 21.7 | 22.8 |
| Cameroon | Lower middle | 24.2 | 21.8 | 19.7 | 21.9 |
| South Sudan | Low | 26.8 | 17.9 | 19.5 | 21.4 |
| Guinea-Bissau | Low / SIDS | 19.4 | 20.9 | 23.3 | 21.2 |
| Mozambique | Low | 17.3 | 31.0 | 14.2 | 20.8 |
| Kenya | Lower middle | 18.9 | 15.9 | 22.7 | 19.2 |
| Egypt | Lower middle | 18.8 | 17.9 | 20.6 | 19.1 |
| Belize | Upper middle / SIDS | 19.8 | 19.0 | 17.8 | 18.9 |
| Guinea | Low | 13.7 | 22.9 | 19.5 | 18.7 |
| Ukraine | Lower middle | 16.8 | 16.2 | 21.7 | 18.3 |
| Yemen | Low | 20.8 | 18.4 | 14.3 | 17.8 |
| Chad | Low | 18.5 | 13.8 | 16.0 | 16.1 |
| Comoros | Lower middle / SIDS | 8.6 | 19.1 | 19.2 | 15.6 |
| Indonesia | Lower middle | 12.8 | 13.6 | 20.1 | 15.5 |
| Morocco | Lower middle | 14.3 | 13.5 | 18.3 | 15.4 |
| Dominican Republic | Upper middle / SIDS | 14.0 | 13.7 | 18.0 | 15.3 |
| Grenada | Upper middle / SIDS | 15.5 | 14.9 | 14.3 | 14.9 |
| Togo | Low | 12.4 | 15.2 | 15.3 | 14.3 |
| Madagascar | Low | 9.1 | 20.3 | 13.4 | 14.3 |
| Niger | Low | 11.9 | 14.6 | 13.8 | 13.5 |
| Nicaragua | Lower middle | 15.0 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 13.4 |
| St Vincent and the Grenadines | Upper middle / SIDS | 15.1 | 12.4 | 12.0 | 13.2 |
| Samoa | Lower middle / SIDS | 12.2 | 13.6 | 12.6 | 12.8 |
| Myanmar | Lower middle | 13.4 | 12.4 | 12.6 | 12.8 |
| Tanzania | Lower middle | 14.1 | 11.5 | 9.7 | 11.7 |
| Somalia | Low | 9.3 | 9.6 | 15.0 | 11.3 |
| Sudan | Low | 15.3 | 9.7 | 8.6 | 11.2 |
| Mali | Low | 11.4 | 11.2 | 10.5 | 11.0 |
| Central African Republic | Low | 9.0 | 10.6 | 12.9 | 10.8 |
| Tajikistan | Lower middle | 10.3 | 10.8 | 11.2 | 10.8 |
| Honduras | Lower middle | 7.6 | 8.3 | 15.3 | 10.4 |
| Uganda | Low | 9.6 | 10.3 | 10.4 | 10.1 |
| Kygryz Republic | Lower middle | 8.9 | 10.6 | 10.8 | 10.1 |
| Bolivia | Lower middle | 11.7 | 11.2 | 7.2 | 10.0 |
| Liberia | Low | 7.0 | 11.8 | 10.3 | 9.7 |
| Cambodia | Lower middle | 9.5 | 9.3 | 9.6 | 9.4 |
| Bangladesh | Lower middle | 8.3 | 9.6 | 10.0 | 9.3 |
| Tonga | Upper middle / SIDS | 9.1 | 8.7 | 9.4 | 9.1 |
| Burkina Faso | Low | 8.3 | 9.4 | 9.3 | 9.0 |
| Papua New Guinea | Lower middle / SIDS | 8.0 | 8.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| Haiti | Lower middle / SIDS | 9.2 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 8.5 |
| Rwanda | Low | 6.6 | 9.8 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Congo, DR | Low | 9.7 | 8.3 | 5.7 | 7.9 |
| Marshall Islands | Upper middle / SIDS | 8.5 | 8.2 | 6.2 | 7.6 |
| Uzbekistan | Lower middle | 6.5 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 7.6 |
| Fiji | Upper middle / SIDS | 7.1 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 7.3 |
| Lesotho | Lower middle | 6.6 | 7.3 | 7.9 | 7.3 |
| St Lucia | Upper middle / SIDS | 7.6 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 7.2 |
| Nigeria | Lower middle | 5.8 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 7.1 |
| Vanuatu | Lower middle / SIDS | 5.6 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 6.8 |
| Eswatini | Lower middle | 4.3 | 6.3 | 9.5 | 6.7 |
| Mauritius | Upper middle / SIDS | 8.1 | 6.7 | 5.0 | 6.6 |
| Vietnam | Lower middle | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.5 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | Lower middle / SIDS | 5.1 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 6.3 |
| Burundi | Low | 4.8 | 5.7 | 6.3 | 5.6 |
| Philippines | Lower middle | 5.1 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 5.1 |
| Micronesia | Lower middle / SIDS | 5.6 | 5.5 | 3.9 | 5.0 |
| Nepal | Lower middle | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Guyana | Upper middle / SIDS | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| Eritrea | Low | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| India | Lower middle | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Zimbabwe | Lower middle | 3.0 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.7 |
| Timor-Leste | Lower middle / SIDS | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.7 |
| Solomon Islands | Lower middle / SIDS | 1.5 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 2.3 |
| Afghanistan | Low | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 |
| Tuvalu | Upper middle / SIDS | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Algeria | Lower middle | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Iran | Lower middle | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
