Sierra Leone: External debt

* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
 Sierra Leone

External debt, percent of GDP

 Latest value 30.03
 Year 2024
 Measure percent
 Data availability 1990 - 2024
 Average 48.69
 Min - Max 15.97 - 87.98
 Source The World Bank
 Available for Data download
The latest value from 2024 is 30.03 percent, a decline from 37.23 percent in 2023. In comparison, the world average is 132.26 percent, based on data from 119 countries. Historically, the average for Sierra Leone from 1990 to 2024 is 48.69 percent. The minimum value, 15.97 percent, was reached in 2007 while the maximum of 87.98 percent was recorded in 1992. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.
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* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
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 Recent values Sierra Leone: External debt
 2024 30.03
 2023 37.23
 2022 33.72
 2021 35.34
 2020 32.86
 2019 29.61
 2018 28.69
 2017 30.82




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 103.00 2024 percent
 Trade openness 49.10 2025 percent
 Financial openness -1.248 2022 index points
 Exports, percent of GDP 20.89 2025 percent
 Exports, billion dollars 1.56 2025 billion U.S. dollars
 Growth of exports 8.30 2025 percent
 Imports, percent of GDP 28.21 2025 percent
 Imports, billion dollars 2.11 2025 billion U.S. dollars
 Foreign Direct Investment, percent of GDP 1.75 2024 percent
 Foreign Direct Investment, billion dollars 0.12 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Portfolio investment inflows, equities 0.13 2011 million dollars (current)
 Current account, percent of GDP -14.12 2024 percent
 Current account, in dollars -0.98 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Trade balance, percent of GDP -7.31 2025 percent
 Trade balance, in dollars -1.31 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Reserves 0.43 2024 billion U.S. dollars
 Remittances, percent of GDP 4.60 2024 percent
 Remittances 320.83 2024 million U.S. dollars
 Net errors and omissions -25.03 2024 million USD
 External debt 30.03 2024 percent
 Short-term external debt 7.53 2024 percent
 Short-term debt to reserves 40.69 2024 percent
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