Economy · External debt service · Eswatini
Eswatini’s external debt service fell to 7.7% of exports in 2024.
7.7% of exports
2024
Down 0.19 pp from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
7.7% of exports
What it is. External debt service shows how much of a country's export earnings goes on repaying foreign debt. It adds up the debt service due and divides it by exports of goods, services and primary income. Because it is a ratio, it moves with repayments and with export earnings, so a fall can come from stronger exports as well as from lower repayments. Debt owed inside the country falls outside it.
Lower is better. Lower is better because a smaller share of foreign earnings goes to creditors, which leaves more to pay for imports and other needs. Eswatini's latest figure, for 2024, is 7.7% of exports, down from 7.9% a year earlier, a fall of 0.19 percentage points. Since 2015 the lowest reading was 2.2% of exports in 2016 and the highest was 7.9% of exports in 2023. The latest figure therefore sits just below the top of that range, well above its low.
Why it matters. At 7.7% of exports, a noticeable slice of the foreign currency Eswatini earns from selling abroad goes to external creditors. That money is then unavailable for buying imports, and it leaves the government less room to absorb a drop in export income. The 2024 dip from 2023 is small, so the burden remains far heavier than in 2016.
| Period | External debt service · Eswatini |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 4.8% of exports |
| 2016 | 2.2% of exports |
| 2017 | 6.2% of exports |
| 2018 | 2.7% of exports |
| 2019 | 2.5% of exports |
| 2020 | 5.4% of exports |
| 2021 | 2.9% of exports |
| 2022 | 3.8% of exports |
| 2023 | 7.9% of exports |
| 2024 | 7.7% 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, Eswatini, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/debt-service/eswatini
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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.