Who Africa owes
African governments owed USD 708 bn abroad at the end of 2024, three times the USD 238 bn of 2000. That is public and publicly guaranteed debt to foreign creditors, as 50 of the continent's 54 states report it to the World Bank. 38% of it is owed to multilateral lenders, led by the World Bank's concessional arm. 27% is owed to bondholders, against 5% in 2000. 12% is owed to Chinese lenders, the largest bilateral creditor in 28 countries.
The creditors have changed more than the total. In 2000 European governments and banks held 28% of the stock; now they hold 10%. China's share rose through the 2010s and its stock peaked at USD 91.9 bn in 2021; it has since been repaid faster than new loans were signed, to USD 82.2 bn. The money that replaced both came from the bond market: Eurobonds took the stock owed to bondholders from USD 12 bn to USD 193 bn.
World Bank International Debt Statistics to 2024, release of 3 Dec 2025, fetched 12 Oct 2026 · 137 creditors · no creditor data for Libya, Namibia, Seychelles, South Sudan
- USD 708 bn
- owed abroad by 50 African governments at the end of 2024, up from USD 238 bn in 2000
- 27%
- owed to bondholders, USD 193 bn; 5% in 2000
- USD 82.2 bn
- owed to China, down from USD 91.9 bn in 2021; the largest bilateral creditor in 28 countries
- USD 96 bn
- IMF credit and SDR allocations on top, counted apart from the creditors
How the creditors changed, 2000–2024
Each column is the stock owed at the end of a year, split by creditor. Three shifts are visible: Europe's share shrinking after the debt relief of the 2000s, China's loans growing through the 2010s, and bonds, almost absent in 2000, becoming the second-largest creditor.
External public debt of African governments by creditor, USD bn
Public and publicly guaranteed, end of each year, current US dollars, summed over 50 countries. Hover a year for its split.
“Other lenders” holds Japan and Korea, India, Russia, Turkey, other African states, every other lending country, and syndicated loans the World Bank books to “multiple lenders”. The tables below name them one by one. Amounts are in current dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Where it is owed
Each country's ring is sized by everything it owes abroad; the disc inside it, on the same scale, is the part owed to one creditor group. China is shown first; switch on bondholders or multilateral lenders to compare. Hover a country for its full split.
Drawn at each country's interior point. China is the largest creditor group, ahead of the multilaterals, in 6 countries: Angola, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Bondholders are in 3: Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, South Africa.
Owed to China, end of 2024
The twelve largest debtors, USD bn. Chinese policy banks and commercial banks together.
Owed to bondholders, end of 2024
The twelve largest debtors, USD bn. Mostly dollar and euro Eurobonds; the holders are not named.
Country by country
Every reporting government, largest debt first. The bar is the creditor mix in the colours above; the largest bilateral creditor is the largest lending country, leaving out the multilaterals, bondholders and syndicates. Each name opens that country in the dashboard, where the same split sits in the “Who it owes” box.
| Country | Owed abroad | Creditor mix | Multilateral | Bondholders | China | Largest bilateral creditor, USD bn | IMF credit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 106.9 | 30% | 26% | 6% | Saudi Arabia 6.5 | 15.1 | |
| South Africa | 97.8 | 9% | 79% | 3% | China 3.3 | 7.6 | |
| Nigeria | 50.2 | 47% | 36% | 11% | China 5.3 | 6.1 | |
| Angola | 46.1 | 13% | 24% | 31% | China 14.4 | 5.1 | |
| Morocco | 45.7 | 47% | 30% | <1% | France 3.9 | 3.3 | |
| Kenya | 35.6 | 56% | 19% | 15% | China 5.4 | 5.0 | |
| Ethiopia | 34.0 | 46% | 3% | 22% | China 7.4 | 2.2 | |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 31.2 | 27% | 34% | 13% | China 4.1 | 4.8 | |
| Ghana | 25.6 | 34% | 36% | 7% | China 1.9 | 4.7 | |
| Senegal | 25.1 | 38% | 20% | 9% | France 3.5 | 2.0 | |
| Tanzania | 24.3 | 68% | – | 6% | United Kingdom 2.3 | 2.1 | |
| Tunisia | 20.8 | 61% | 12% | <1% | Germany 1.1 | 2.0 | |
| Zambia | 15.5 | 29% | 18% | 34% | China 5.3 | 3.1 | |
| Sudan | 15.0 | 15% | – | 6% | Saudi Arabia 2.1 | 2.3 | |
| Uganda | 14.1 | 61% | 6% | 18% | China 2.6 | 2.0 | |
| Cameroon | 12.5 | 48% | 6% | 26% | China 3.3 | 2.0 | |
| Mozambique | 9.2 | 49% | 10% | 16% | China 1.4 | 1.1 | |
| Benin | 8.9 | 45% | 25% | 4% | France 0.9 | 1.2 | |
| Rwanda | 8.3 | 67% | 8% | 4% | China 0.4 | 1.1 | |
| DR Congo | 7.9 | 52% | – | 44% | China 3.5 | 4.1 | |
| Mali | 5.6 | 73% | – | 9% | China 0.5 | 0.8 | |
| Gabon | 5.6 | 32% | 31% | 16% | China 0.9 | 1.1 | |
| Republic of the Congo | 5.3 | 25% | 3% | 56% | China 3.0 | 0.7 | |
| Zimbabwe | 5.3 | 33% | <1% | 38% | China 2.0 | 1.3 | |
| Burkina Faso | 5.1 | 90% | – | 2% | France 0.2 | 0.7 | |
| Madagascar | 4.8 | 79% | – | 7% | China 0.3 | 1.3 | |
| Niger | 4.5 | 83% | – | 4% | France 0.2 | 0.8 | |
| Guinea | 4.1 | 47% | – | 40% | China 1.6 | 0.8 | |
| Mauritania | 3.6 | 61% | – | 7% | Saudi Arabia 0.7 | 0.6 | |
| Mauritius | 3.4 | 31% | <1% | 4% | United States 0.9 | 0.3 | |
| Malawi | 3.0 | 88% | – | 7% | China 0.2 | 0.7 | |
| Djibouti | 2.8 | 33% | – | 51% | China 1.4 | 0.1 | |
| Chad | 2.4 | 31% | – | 9% | United Arab Emirates 0.7 | 0.9 | |
| Togo | 2.4 | 57% | – | 14% | China 0.3 | 0.7 | |
| Botswana | 1.9 | 94% | – | – | Japan 0.1 | 0.3 | |
| Cabo Verde | 1.8 | 60% | – | 1% | Portugal 0.5 | 0.1 | |
| Liberia | 1.4 | 90% | – | 4% | China 0.0 | 0.7 | |
| Sierra Leone | 1.3 | 70% | – | 4% | Kuwait 0.1 | 0.8 | |
| Guinea-Bissau | 1.3 | 53% | 38% | – | Angola 0.0 | 0.1 | |
| Lesotho | 1.0 | 78% | – | 18% | China 0.2 | 0.1 | |
| The Gambia | 1.0 | 62% | – | 2% | Saudi Arabia 0.1 | 0.3 | |
| Equatorial Guinea | 0.9 | 7% | – | 93% | China 0.8 | 0.3 | |
| Eswatini | 0.9 | 65% | 2% | 25% | China 0.2 | 0.2 | |
| Algeria | 0.9 | 84% | – | 8% | China 0.1 | 4.0 | |
| Somalia | 0.7 | 34% | – | – | Kuwait 0.1 | 0.4 | |
| Burundi | 0.6 | 66% | – | 6% | Saudi Arabia 0.1 | 0.4 | |
| Eritrea | 0.6 | 89% | – | <1% | Italy 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| Central African Republic | 0.4 | 39% | – | 4% | Saudi Arabia 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| Comoros | 0.3 | 44% | – | 28% | China 0.1 | 0.1 | |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 0.3 | 29% | – | – | Angola 0.1 | 0.1 |
The creditors
The same stock seen from the lenders' side. The World Bank's concessional arm, IDA, is the largest single creditor after the bond market; China is next. Where the site has a lender profile, the creditor's name links to it.
| Creditor | Group | Owed, 2024 | Debtors | Largest debtors, USD bn | Since 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bondholders | Bondholders | 192.8 | 23 | South Africa 77.4, Egypt 27.3, Nigeria 18.0 | +112.3 |
| World Bank (IDA) | Multilateral lenders | 110.0 | 42 | Nigeria 16.6, Ethiopia 12.8, Tanzania 12.1 | +63.9 |
| China | China | 82.2 | 46 | Angola 14.4, Ethiopia 7.4, Egypt 5.9 | +34.2 |
| African Development Bank | Multilateral lenders | 47.1 | 50 | Morocco 4.7, Kenya 3.9, Tanzania 3.5 | +19.1 |
| World Bank (IBRD) | Multilateral lenders | 40.8 | 16 | Egypt 12.2, Morocco 10.2, Angola 4.5 | +26.3 |
| France | Europe | 25.4 | 38 | Côte d'Ivoire 3.9, Morocco 3.9, Senegal 3.5 | +10.3 |
| Multiple lenders | Other lenders | 24.4 | 20 | Egypt 7.2, South Africa 4.6, Ethiopia 4.0 | +14.3 |
| United Kingdom | Europe | 14.8 | 21 | Angola 3.9, Tanzania 2.3, Côte d'Ivoire 1.2 | −1.9 |
| Germany | Europe | 13.6 | 23 | Egypt 3.7, Morocco 2.7, Ghana 1.1 | +7.8 |
| Saudi Arabia | Gulf states | 12.1 | 41 | Egypt 6.5, Sudan 2.1, Tunisia 0.7 | +3.6 |
| European Investment Bank | Multilateral lenders | 11.6 | 40 | Egypt 4.1, Morocco 2.9, Tunisia 1.5 | +3.4 |
| Islamic Development Bank | Multilateral lenders | 10.5 | 26 | Senegal 1.3, Egypt 1.2, Côte d'Ivoire 0.9 | +5.6 |
| Afreximbank | Multilateral lenders | 10.3 | 17 | Egypt 3.8, Nigeria 2.2, Tunisia 1.0 | +10.1 |
| Japan | Other lenders | 10.1 | 27 | Egypt 2.4, Kenya 1.2, Côte d'Ivoire 1.1 | +3.5 |
| Kuwait | Gulf states | 9.8 | 43 | Egypt 5.9, Sudan 1.4, Tunisia 0.4 | +1.5 |
| United States | United States | 6.8 | 19 | Ethiopia 1.9, South Africa 1.0, Mauritius 0.9 | −2.7 |
| Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development | Multilateral lenders | 6.7 | 10 | Egypt 2.1, Morocco 1.3, Mauritania 1.2 | +1.1 |
| United Arab Emirates | Gulf states | 5.9 | 31 | Egypt 3.7, Chad 0.7, Sudan 0.5 | +0.2 |
| India | Other lenders | 4.6 | 40 | Tanzania 0.6, Sudan 0.5, Ghana 0.4 | +1.4 |
| Russia | Other lenders | 4.5 | 12 | Egypt 4.1, Ethiopia 0.2, Zambia 0.1 | +3.9 |
| Israel | Other lenders | 4.2 | 10 | Angola 2.7, Zambia 0.5, Senegal 0.3 | +2.0 |
| IFAD | Multilateral lenders | 3.9 | 48 | Ethiopia 0.4, Nigeria 0.3, Kenya 0.3 | +1.2 |
| Italy | Europe | 3.7 | 21 | Ethiopia 0.6, Angola 0.6, Kenya 0.5 | +1.9 |
| South Africa | Other lenders | 3.3 | 12 | Tanzania 0.9, Uganda 0.7, Egypt 0.5 | +1.7 |
| New Development Bank (NDB) | Multilateral lenders | 3.3 | 1 | South Africa 3.3 | +3.3 |
| West African Development Bank (BOAD) | Multilateral lenders | 2.8 | 8 | Senegal 0.5, Niger 0.4, Côte d'Ivoire 0.4 | +1.7 |
| Switzerland | Europe | 2.8 | 7 | Sudan 1.9, Ethiopia 0.5, Egypt 0.3 | −0.8 |
| European Bank for Reconstruction and Dev. (EBRD) | Multilateral lenders | 2.5 | 3 | Egypt 1.4, Morocco 0.7, Tunisia 0.5 | +2.5 |
| South Korea | Other lenders | 2.4 | 17 | Egypt 0.4, Tanzania 0.4, Ethiopia 0.4 | +1.6 |
| OPEC Fund | Multilateral lenders | 2.4 | 44 | Morocco 0.3, Egypt 0.3, Côte d'Ivoire 0.2 | +0.8 |
What these figures count
- Source
- World Bank, International Debt Statistics, release of 3 Dec 2025: series
DT.DOD.DPPG.CD(public and publicly guaranteed debt outstanding, current USD) by creditor, through the World Bank's API (source 6). The borrowing governments report it, loan by loan, to the Bank's Debtor Reporting System. Open under CC BY 4.0; refreshed every December. - What is counted
- Long-term external debt owed or guaranteed by a government or a public body, at the end of each year. Not counted: private debt that no government guarantees, short-term debt, domestic debt, and arrears the IDS does not attribute to a creditor.
- A creditor's country
- A lending country stands for every lender resident there, public and private: “China” is China Eximbank, China Development Bank and the Chinese commercial banks together; “United Kingdom” includes London-booked bank loans. The official-bilateral series alone (
DT.DOD.BLAT.CD) misses the commercial banks, which is why it is not used here. - Bondholders
- One anonymous creditor in the IDS. Whoever holds a Eurobond, a pension fund in New York or a bank in Lagos, the World Bank cannot say.
- Multiple lenders
- Syndicated loans the World Bank books to several lenders at once. Shown inside “Other lenders”.
- The IMF
- Use of IMF credit is a separate series (
DT.DOD.DIMF.CD) that also carries the SDR allocations of 2009 and 2021, which are reserve assets rather than loans. It is shown beside the creditors, never added to them. - Missing
- Libya, Namibia, Seychelles, South Sudan do not report to the Debtor Reporting System, so the World Bank publishes no creditor detail for them.
- Reproduce
python3 fetch_debt.pyasks the API once per country,api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/6/country/KEN/series/DT.DOD.DPPG.CD/counterpart-area/all/time/all, and checks that the creditors add up to the World Bank's own total before writingdata/debt.json.