Economy · Current account balance · Zambia
Zambia’s current account balance fell to −5.5% of GDP in 2025.
−5.5% of GDP
2025
Down 1.1 pp from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
−5.5% of GDP
What it is. The current account balance adds up what a country earns from selling goods and services abroad, income received from overseas and transfers such as remittances and aid, then subtracts what it pays out on the same items. The result is divided by GDP so that economies of different sizes can be compared. A positive figure means the country is a net lender to the world, and a negative one means it relies on outside financing. Loans, investment and other financial flows sit outside the measure, even though they show how any gap gets funded.
Higher is better. A higher balance means a country earns more from abroad than it spends, so it needs less foreign borrowing and carries less exposure to a sudden stop in capital inflows. Zambia's latest figure, for 2025, is −5.5% of GDP, down from −4.4% of GDP a year earlier, a fall of 1.1 percentage points. That is the lowest reading since 2016 and sits well below the high of 11.9% of GDP reached in 2021. The balance has moved from a large surplus to its weakest point in the period.
Why it matters. A deficit of −5.5% of GDP means Zambia must fund the gap through foreign borrowing, investment inflows or drawing on reserves. Households feel this mainly through the kwacha, because a weaker currency raises the price of imported fuel, food and machinery. Firms that buy inputs abroad face higher costs, and the state has less room to service external debt. The swing from 11.9% of GDP in 2021 shows how quickly the position has changed.
| Period | Current account balance · Zambia |
|---|---|
| 2016 | −4.6% of GDP |
| 2017 | −1.7% of GDP |
| 2018 | −1.3% of GDP |
| 2019 | 0.6% of GDP |
| 2020 | 11.8% of GDP |
| 2021 | 11.9% of GDP |
| 2022 | 3.7% of GDP |
| 2023 | −3% of GDP |
| 2024 | −4.4% of GDP |
| 2025 | −5.5% of GDP |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Current account balance, Zambia, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/current-account-balance/zambia
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Methodology
Current account balance as a share of GDP. Unit: % of GDP. A negative value is a deficit.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series BN.CAB.XOKA.GD.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.