| Country | Public debt, % of GDP · 2025 ↓ | Risk of debt distress (IMF) | External debt | Owed to China | Owed to bond holders | Debt service, % of exports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senegal | 127.7 % | Moderate 2023 | 45.4 bn$ 2025 | 7.5 % | 19.2 % | 16.7 % 2023 |
| Cabo Verde | 115.4 % | Moderate 2026 | 2.7 bn$ 2025 | 0.9 % | 0.0 % | 10.7 % 2024 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 75.1 % | High 2025 | 1.5 bn$ 2025 | 0.0 % | 35.4 % | 8.7 % 2024 |
| The Gambia | 73.7 % | High 2025 | 1.8 bn$ 2025 | 2.3 % | 0.0 % | 5.2 % 2024 |
| Togo | 64.9 % | Moderate 2025 | 5.7 bn$ 2025 | 8.8 % | 0.0 % | 4.4 % 2020 |
| Benin | 59.3 % | Moderate 2025 | 16.9 bn$ 2025 | 2.6 % | 24.6 % | 15.7 % 2023 |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 57.1 % | Moderate 2026 | 45.3 bn$ 2025 | 10.0 % | 36.4 % | 19.0 % 2024 |
| Liberia | 55.1 % | Moderate 2025 | 2.5 bn$ 2025 | 2.8 % | 0.0 % | 2.4 % 2024 |
| Burkina Faso | 53.2 % | Moderate 2026 | 11.3 bn$ 2025 | 1.4 % | 0.0 % | 4.2 % 2024 |
| Sierra Leone | 51.4 % | High 2026 | 2.4 bn$ 2025 | 3.6 % | 0.0 % | 4.2 % 2024 |
| Ghana | 48.8 % | High 2025 | 38.8 bn$ 2025 | 6.2 % | 33.8 % | 2.9 % 2024 |
| Niger | 45.5 % | High 2026 | 6.4 bn$ 2025 | 2.8 % | 0.0 % | 17.5 % 2024 |
| Mali | 40.3 % | Moderate 2025 | 7.3 bn$ 2025 | 7.9 % | 0.0 % | 4.9 % 2024 |
| Guinea | 36.3 % | Moderate 2024 | 6.5 bn$ 2025 | 20.7 % | 0.0 % | 2.8 % 2024 |
| Nigeria | 36.1 % | Not assessed | 145.0 bn$ 2025 | 10.0 % | 34.1 % | 6.3 % 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).