Economy · External debt service · Cameroon
Cameroon’s external debt service was 20.1% of exports in 2023.
20.1% of exports
2023
Down 0.43 pp from 2022.
Stale — last updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
20.1% of exports
What it is. External debt service shows how much of a country's foreign earnings goes on repaying money owed abroad. It adds up the interest and principal due in a year and divides by exports of goods, services and primary income, which includes income earned from abroad such as investment returns. Because it covers external debt only, borrowing from domestic lenders sits outside the figure.
Lower is better. A lower share is better because less of the foreign currency Cameroon earns goes to creditors, which leaves more for imports and public spending. The latest figure, for 2023, is 20.1% of exports, down from 20.6% of exports a year earlier, a fall of 0.43 percentage points. Since 2014 the share has ranged from a low of 6.1% of exports in 2014 to a high of 25.6% in 2021. The 2023 reading sits much nearer the top of that range than the bottom.
Why it matters. At 20.1% of exports, roughly one dollar in every five that Cameroon earns abroad is committed to lenders before it can pay for anything else. The state has to set aside foreign currency for these payments, which narrows what it can spend on imports and public projects. Exporters and importers feel the same squeeze when foreign exchange is tight.
| Period | External debt service · Cameroon |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 6.1% of exports |
| 2015 | 7.4% of exports |
| 2016 | 13.4% of exports |
| 2017 | 10.7% of exports |
| 2018 | 14.1% of exports |
| 2019 | 14.2% of exports |
| 2020 | 20.9% of exports |
| 2021 | 25.6% of exports |
| 2022 | 20.6% of exports |
| 2023 | 20.1% of exports |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, External debt service, Cameroon, 2023; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/debt-service/cameroon
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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.