African countries with minimal IMF debt demonstrate the benefits of careful financial management and diverse economic strategies.
Starting the new year with less debt relieves economic constraints and gives governments more leeway to address critical national concerns.
Avoiding significant IMF debt has helped these nations reduce economic risks, promote sustainable development, and maintain national sovereignty.
By avoiding severe lending conditions, they can better deploy resources to important areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, education, and social welfare.
Additionally, African countries with minimal debt avoid the difficulties of austerity policies that sometimes accompany big IMF loans, unlike those with heavy debt.
These policies, which usually consist of tax hikes, expenditure cuts, or the elimination of subsidies, may stabilize economies temporarily but frequently impede long-term growth and progress.
These low-debt nations’ capacity to prioritize investments that promote sustainable development and poverty alleviation is another indication of their economic resilience.
This strategy creates the groundwork for more extensive economic prospects and promotes a positive growth cycle.
“Africa’s external debt has grown substantially during the last decade, reaching a record level of $656 billion in 2022,” according to the Unpacking Africa’s Debt report by the UN states.
Despite this, many African countries have managed to keep their lending low, relying almost solely on domestic economic solutions.
With that said, here are the 10 African countries with the highest debt to the IMF as of 20th, January 2025.
Burundi has less debt to the IMF than Seychelles for this month, putting it in tenth place ahead of Seychelles, which ranked 10th last month.
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Top 10 African countries with the lowest debt to the IMF at the start of 2025
| Rank | Country | Total IMF Credit Outstanding as of 01/27/2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lesotho | 11,660,000 |
| 2. | Comoros | 20,926,125 |
| 3. | Sao Tome & Principe | 27,665,439 |
| 4. | Eswatini | 29,437,500 |
| 5. | Djibouti | 31,800,000 |
| 6. | Guinea-Bissau | 52,291,400 |
| 7. | Equatorial Guinea | 65,749,584 |
| 8. | Cabo Verde | 72,116,000 |
| 9. | Somalia | 87,000,000 |
| 10. | Burundi | 100,600,000 |
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