Economy · External debt service · Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso’s external debt service rose to 13.6% of exports in 2024.
13.6% of exports
2024
Up 1.9 pp from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
13.6% of exports
What it is. This measure sets the principal and interest a country pays on its debt against the foreign currency it earns from selling goods, services and primary income abroad. A higher share means creditors take a bigger cut of what comes in from the rest of the world. It leaves out the size of the debt stock, the terms of each loan and any reserves or aid available to meet payments.
Lower is better. A lower share is better because less of the country's foreign earnings goes to creditors and more is left to pay for imports and investment. Burkina Faso's latest figure is 13.6% of exports for 2024, up from 11.7% of exports a year earlier, a rise of 1.9 percentage points. Since 2015 the lowest level was 7.6% of exports in 2021, so the current figure sits above that floor. The highest was 63.2% of exports in 2018, and today's burden is far below that peak.
Why it matters. At 13.6% of exports, debt payments take a modest but growing slice of the foreign currency Burkina Faso earns. That leaves the rest for imports such as fuel, food and equipment, and for the state's other external obligations. The 2024 rise is the trend to check in the next annual figure.
| Period | External debt service · Burkina Faso |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 55.2% of exports |
| 2016 | 35.8% of exports |
| 2017 | 40.3% of exports |
| 2018 | 63.2% of exports |
| 2019 | 49.5% of exports |
| 2020 | 38.7% of exports |
| 2021 | 7.6% of exports |
| 2022 | 17.6% of exports |
| 2023 | 11.7% of exports |
| 2024 | 13.6% of exports |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
How to read this number
- Source
- Who published the figure
- Published
- When they released it
- Verified
- When we last checked it against the source
Every change is logged in Corrections. How the figure is made: Methodology.
Cite this number
Show text
Strata-AF™ Data, External debt service, Burkina Faso, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/debt-service/burkina-faso
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Total debt service as a share of exports of goods, services and primary income. Unit: % of exports.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series DT.TDS.DECT.EX.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.