Sub-Saharan African countries as a group showed a considerable reduction in public and external indebtedness in the early 2000s as a result of debt relief programs, higher economic growth, and improved fiscal management for some countries. More recently, however, vulnerabilities in some countries are on the rise, including a few with very rapid debt accumulation.

This paper looks at the heterogeneous experiences across Sub-Saharan African countries and the detailed dynamics that have driven changes in public debt since the global financial crisis. Borrowing to support fiscal deficits since 2009, including through domestic markets and Eurobond issuance, has driven a net increase in public debt for all countries except oil exporters benefitting from buoyant commodity prices and fragile states receiving post-2008 Highly Indebted Poor Country relief. Current account deficits and foreign direct investment inflows drove the external debt dynamics, with balance of payments problems associated with very rapid external debt accumulation in some cases.

Pockets of increasing vulnerabilities of debt financing profiles and sensitivity of debt burden indicators to macro-fiscal shocks require close monitoring. Specific risks that policy makers in Sub-Saharan Africa need to pay attention to going forward include the recent fall in commodity prices, especially oil, the slowdown in China and the sluggish recovery in Europe, dependence on non-debt creating flows, and accounting for contingent liabilities.

Introduction

The fiscal and debt landscape has changed significantly for many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007-2008. Record low interest rates worldwide coupled with the lowest SSA debt levels in decades after successful HIPC and MDRI debt relief has led to increased access to new sources of finance, especially non-concessional. For some countries there has been a sharp rise in indebtedness within a short time period, which if unchecked can lead to debt overhang problems similar to the ones seen in past decades among LICs and MICs. Further, volatile and changing global economic and financial conditions warrant a close monitoring of country debt situations in SSA.

This paper moves beyond the aggregate picture to look at more detailed debt profiles and dynamics of SSA countries, and aims to unravel more country-specific risks. The paper is structured as follows. Section 1 notes important data and methodology considerations. Section 2 presents an update on debt patterns in SSA countries, covering public debt and external debt separately. Section 3 reports post-global financial crisis debt dynamics, analyzing the underlying driving forces behind recent changes in debt burdens and comparing these factors with earlier periods. Section 4 discusses key vulnerabilities to debt sustainability in SSA countries, and Section 5 provides concluding remarks.

This paper is a product of the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice Group. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://econ.worldbank.org