Sao Tome and Principe: External debt

* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
 Sao Tome and Principe

External debt, percent of GDP

 Latest value 65.27
 Year 2023
 Measure percent
 Data availability 1990 - 2023
 Average 178.67
 Min - Max 62.64 - 428.27
 Source The World Bank
 Available for Data download
The latest value from 2023 is 65.27 percent, a decline from 77.21 percent in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 114.96 percent, based on data from 167 countries. Historically, the average for Sao Tome and Principe from 1990 to 2023 is 178.67 percent. The minimum value, 62.64 percent, was reached in 2021 while the maximum of 428.27 percent was recorded in 2001. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.
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 Recent values Sao Tome and Principe: External debt
 2023 65.27
 2022 77.21
 2021 62.64
 2020 66.54
 2019 66.61
 2018 64.30
 2017 81.76
 2016 83.17




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.

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 Related indicators Latest Reference Measure
 Terms of trade 130.30 2024 percent
 Trade openness 46.57 2025 percent
 Financial openness 0.526 2022 index points
 Exports, percent of GDP 13.26 2025 percent
 Exports, billion dollars 0.13 2025 billion U.S. dollars
 Growth of exports -12.18 2025 percent
 Imports, percent of GDP 33.30 2025 percent
 Imports, billion dollars 0.33 2025 billion U.S. dollars
 Foreign Direct Investment, percent of GDP -2.02 2024 percent
 Foreign Direct Investment, billion dollars -0.02 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Portfolio investment inflows, equities 0.00 2024 million dollars (current)
 Current account, percent of GDP 5.03 2024 percent
 Current account, in dollars 0.04 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Trade balance, percent of GDP -20.04 2025 percent
 Trade balance, in dollars -0.12 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Reserves 0.06 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Remittances, percent of GDP 9.75 2024 percent
 Remittances 80.14 2024 million U.S. dollars
 Net errors and omissions -49.27 2024 million USD
 External debt 65.27 2023 percent
 Short-term external debt 4.86 2023 percent
 Short-term debt to reserves 47.70 2023 percent
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