Economy · External debt service · Chad
Chad’s external debt service was 8.5% of exports in 2023.
8.5% of exports
2023
Up 0.83 pp from 2022.
Stale — last updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
8.5% of exports
What it is. External debt service adds up the principal and interest Chad pays on its external debt and divides it by what the country earns abroad from exports of goods, services and primary income. Export earnings are the foreign currency available for repayment, so the ratio shows how much of that income goes to creditors. It moves with export receipts as well as with repayments, so a fall can come from stronger sales abroad. The size of the debt stock and the repayments due in future years do not appear in it.
Lower is better. A lower share means more of Chad's foreign income stays available for imports and public spending. The latest figure is 8.5% of exports in 2023, up from 7.6% a year earlier, a rise of 0.83 percentage points. Since 2014 the ratio has ranged from a low of 2.4% of exports in 2015 to a high of 15.4% of exports in 2014. The 2023 reading therefore sits in the middle of that range, well above the 2015 low and well below the 2014 peak.
Why it matters. At 8.5% of exports, roughly one dollar in every twelve earned abroad goes to servicing external debt. For the state, that is foreign currency that cannot be used to buy fuel, food or equipment. The rise in 2023 means the burden grew for the first time in this comparison, so the next annual reading will show whether it keeps climbing towards the levels of 2014.
| Period | External debt service · Chad |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 15.4% of exports |
| 2015 | 2.4% of exports |
| 2016 | 6.8% of exports |
| 2017 | 5.8% of exports |
| 2018 | 5.7% of exports |
| 2019 | 3.4% of exports |
| 2020 | 6.4% of exports |
| 2021 | 8.2% of exports |
| 2022 | 7.6% of exports |
| 2023 | 8.5% 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, Chad, 2023; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/debt-service/chad
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
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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.