Rising Debt-to-GDP in Africa: Cause for Concern or a Non-Issue?

While it is evident that many African countries’ debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio – total public debt expressed as a percentage of the country’s total production of goods and services in a given period – has increased sharply in the last few years, the situation may be different from that leading up to the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief (MDR) initiatives.

A cursory look at the global picture shows that high debt-to-GDP ratio is a global phenomenon. As at 2016, eight African countries featured among the thirty countries with the highest debt-to-GDP ratio globally. Interestingly, nine African countries also featured among the 30 countries with the least debt-to-GDP ratio.