| Country | Public debt, % of GDP · 2025 ↓ | Risk of debt distress (IMF) | External debt | Owed to China | Owed to bond holders | Debt service, % of exports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of the Congo | 100.4 % | In debt distress 2025 | 7.7 bn$ 2025 | 24.4 % | 16.6 % | 6.3 % 2021 |
| Gabon | 84.2 % | Not assessed | 7.9 bn$ 2025 | 12.4 % | 31.1 % | 8.5 % 2015 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 59.1 % | In debt distress 2025 | 376 m$ 2025 | 0.0 % | 0.0 % | 2.0 % 2024 |
| Central African Republic | 42.6 % | High 2025 | 1.1 bn$ 2025 | 4.3 % | 0.0 % | — |
| Burundi | 42.0 % | High 2023 | 1.0 bn$ 2025 | 5.8 % | 0.0 % | 5.5 % 2024 |
| Cameroon | 40.5 % | High 2025 | 17.6 bn$ 2025 | 20.6 % | 9.5 % | 15.8 % 2024 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 35.4 % | Not assessed | 1.1 bn$ 2025 | 89.6 % | 0.0 % | — |
| Chad | 33.3 % | High 2025 | 3.5 bn$ 2025 | 9.0 % | 0.0 % | — |
| DR Congo | 20.4 % | Moderate 2025 | 15.3 bn$ 2025 | 38.0 % | 0.0 % | 1.1 % 2024 |
Public debt: IMF, World Economic Outlook, gross debt of the general government, % of GDP
Risk of debt distress: IMF, list of debt sustainability analyses of low-income countries, as of 2026-03-31 · only countries eligible for the IMF's concessional lending are assessed · imf.org
External debt, creditors and service: World Bank, International Debt Statistics and World Development Indicators (updated 2026-11-05), CC BY 4.0 · shares of the public and publicly guaranteed external debt: Syli Atlas calculation · the World Bank does not cover high-income countries such as Seychelles
In short
In 2025, the median public debt of African countries is 53.2 % of GDP (IMF); 16 of 52 countries are above 70 %. China holds a median 6.4 % of their public external debt (World Bank).