Washington, Dec. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - Angola and Mozambique are among the five countries in the world where the cost of interest on public debt represents the largest share of Gross National Income (GNI), according to a report released on Wednesday by the World Bank.
"The five countries with the highest external debt interest payments relative to export revenues in 2024 were Mozambique, Senegal, Mongolia, Egypt and Colombia; the five countries with the highest interest payments relative to Gross National Income [a measure of the sum of the income of each person in a country] were Mozambique, Mongolia, Angola, Senegal and Lebanon," according to the World Bank report on the evolution of public debt worldwide.
When questioned by Lusa, the World Bank explained that the situation was already negative for these two Portuguese-speaking African countries in 2023.
In 2023 and 2024, Mozambique had the highest ratio of interest payments to exports, as well as the highest ratio of interest payments to GNI.
In 2024, Angola had the 10th highest ratio of interest to exports and the fourth highest ratio of interest to GNI.
In the previous year, Angola ranked 10th on the list of countries with the highest interest payments to exports ratio, and was the third worst country in the world in terms of the ratio of interest payments to GNI.
In its International Debt Report, released today in Washington, the World Bank warns that "developing countries paid US$741 billion [€637.5 billion] more in debt and interest on external debt than they received in new financing between 2022 and 2024," representing "the largest gap in at least 50 years."
World Bank experts paint a cautious picture of the evolution of international financial market conditions, which has led several countries to issue new debt this year, as was the case in Angola, despite interest rates hovering around 10%, roughly double the average charged to emerging countries before the pandemic.
"Global financial conditions may be improving, but developing countries should not be under any illusions: they are not out of the woods yet," says World Bank Group Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics Indermit Gill, quoted in the report, warning that as "debt accumulation continues (...) policy makers around the world should make the most of the room for manoeuvre that exists, rather than rushing back to external debt markets".
For many countries, turning to the international market is a viable option due to the decline in interest rates charged by investors and the guarantee that there will be no exchange rate surprises, but it is also a solution to ensure the restructuring of current debt.
"Many countries have avoided the risk of bankruptcy by restructuring their debts; in total, developing countries restructured US$90 billion [€77 billion] of external debt in 2024, the largest volume since 2010," the World Bank report adds.
Last year, the external debt of low- and middle-income countries reached a record of US$8.9 trillion (about €7.6 trillion), with $1.2 trillion (just over €1 trillion) owed by the 78 countries eligible for loans from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), with interest on debt issued in 2024 reaching its highest figure in 24 years.
"In total, these countries disbursed a record figure of US$415 billion [€357 billion] in interest alone, resources that could have been allocated to education, primary health care and essential infrastructure," the report's authors point out, concluding that only multilateral development banks can guarantee cheap financing.
In the case of the World Bank, they conclude, $18.3 billion [€15.7 billion] more than the amount received in payments and interest was delivered, in addition to the $7.5 billion [€6.4 billion] channelled to the poorest countries as donations.
MBA/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
