Lesotho: External debt

* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
 Lesotho

External debt, percent of Gross National Income

 Latest value 67.12
 Year 2022
 Measure percent
 Data availability 1970 - 2022
 Average 35.00
 Min - Max 4.24 - 70.94
 Source The World Bank
The latest value from 2022 is 67.12 percent, an increase from 66.84 percent in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 56.76 percent, based on data from 113 countries. Historically, the average for Lesotho from 1970 to 2022 is 35 percent. The minimum value, 4.24 percent, was reached in 1974 while the maximum of 70.94 percent was recorded in 2020. 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


Recent data
Lesotho - External debt - Recent values chart

Historical series
Lesotho - External debt - historical chart - 1970-2022




The external debt of Lesotho and other countries is reported as the total international obligations of the country as percent of its GDP. External debt of less than 60 percent of GDP is not a problem. At higher levels, paying the interest on the debt may start to become difficult.
Definition: Total external debt stocks to gross national income. Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. GNI (formerly GNP) is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad.

Selected articles from our guide:

What factors determine the exchange rates

International lending and sovereign debt

All articles



 Related indicators Latest Reference Measure
 Terms of trade 77.60 2021 percent
 Trade openness 145.74 2022 percent
 Financial openness -1.242 2021 index points
 Exports, percent of GDP 47.22 2022 percent
 Exports, billion dollars 1.08 2022 billion U.S. dollars
 Growth of exports -1.66 2022 percent
 Imports, percent of GDP 98.52 2022 percent
 Imports, billion dollars 2.26 2022 billion U.S. dollars
 Foreign Direct Investment, percent of GDP -1.25 2023 percent
 Foreign Direct Investment, billion dollars -0.01 2022 billion U.S. dollars
 Portfolio investment inflows, equities 0.18 2023 million dollars (current)
 Current account, percent of GDP -6.80 2022 percent
 Current account, in dollars -0.12 2023 billion U.S. dollars
 Trade balance, percent of GDP -51.29 2022 percent
 Trade balance, in dollars -1.17 2023 billion U.S. dollars
 Reserves 0.77 2019 billion U.S. dollars
 Remittances, percent of GDP 24.12 2023 percent
 Remittances 493.52 2023 million U.S. dollars
 Net errors and omissions 64.85 2023 million USD
 External debt 67.12 2022 percent
 Short-term external debt 0.80 2022 percent
 Short-term debt to reserves 0.05 2019 percent
 Foreign exchange reserves 0.78 4/2020 billion
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