Afghanistan: External debt

* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
 Afghanistan

External debt, percent of GDP

 Latest value 19.88
 Year 2023
 Measure percent
 Data availability 2006 - 2023
 Average 16.70
 Min - Max 12.27 - 24.90
 Source The World Bank
 Available for Data download
The latest value from 2023 is 19.88 percent, a decline from 23.4 percent in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 114.96 percent, based on data from 167 countries. Historically, the average for Afghanistan from 2006 to 2023 is 16.7 percent. The minimum value, 12.27 percent, was reached in 2014 while the maximum of 24.9 percent was recorded in 2021. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.
Select indicator
* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
From   To 


 Recent values Afghanistan: External debt
 2023 19.88
 2022 23.40
 2021 24.90
 2020 15.10
 2019 14.10
 2018 14.61
 2017 14.57
 2016 14.41




Definition: The total debt of public and private borrowers held by non-residents as percent of GDP. Source: Kose, M. Ayhan, Sergio Kurlat, Franziska Ohnsorge, and Naotaka Sugawara. 2022. "A Cross-Country Database of Fiscal Space." Journal of International Money and Finance 128 (November): 102682.

Other resources:

Download data from our database

All indicators for Afghanistan

All indicators on the website

Article: Are trade deficits bad for the economy?

Article: Sources of economic growth

Article: Currency values and investment returns

All articles



 Related indicators Latest Reference Measure
 Terms of trade 107.30 2024 percent
 Trade openness 83.76 2024 percent
 Financial openness -1.935 2000 index points
 Exports, percent of GDP 15.70 2024 percent
 Exports, billion dollars 2.79 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Growth of exports -0.34 2024 percent
 Imports, percent of GDP 68.06 2024 percent
 Imports, billion dollars 12.10 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Foreign Direct Investment, percent of GDP 0.14 2021 percent
 Foreign Direct Investment, billion dollars 0.02 2021 billion U.S. dollars
 Portfolio investment inflows, equities 0.00 1989 million dollars (current)
 Current account, percent of GDP -15.72 2020 percent
 Current account, in dollars -3.14 2020 billion U.S. dollars
 Trade balance, percent of GDP -52.36 2024 percent
 Trade balance, in dollars -5.51 2020 billion U.S. dollars
 Reserves 9.75 2020 billion U.S. dollars
 Remittances, percent of GDP 3.95 2020 percent
 Remittances 788.92 2020 million U.S. dollars
 Net errors and omissions 2,997.40 2020 million USD
 External debt 19.88 2023 percent
 Short-term external debt 12.45 2023 percent
 Short-term debt to reserves 4.46 2020 percent
This site uses cookies.
Learn more here


OK