Economy · External debt service · Mozambique
Mozambique’s external debt service rose to 46.5% of exports in 2024.
46.5% of exports
2024
Up 0.35 pp from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
46.5% of exports
What it is. This measure shows how much of what a country earns from selling abroad is claimed by payments on its external debt, both repayment of principal and interest. It divides total debt service by exports of goods, services and primary income, so the ratio moves when export earnings change as well as when repayments change. It covers debt owed to foreign creditors only, so borrowing from domestic lenders sits outside it.
Lower is better. A lower ratio leaves more of the foreign currency a country earns for buying imports and for other uses, so lower is better. Mozambique's latest figure is 46.5% of exports in 2024, up from 46.2% a year earlier, a rise of 0.35 percentage points. Since 2015 the series has ranged from a low of 21.4% of exports in 2015 to a high of 103.7% of exports in 2021. The 2024 figure sits in the lower half of that range, well below the 2021 peak and well above the 2015 starting level.
Why it matters. At 46.5% of exports, a large share of Mozambique's foreign earnings goes to creditors before it can pay for imports such as fuel, food and machinery. Firms that depend on imported inputs compete with debt payments for the same foreign currency. For the state, repayments of this size limit the room in the budget for spending at home, and the ratio rose slightly in 2024 rather than easing.
| Period | External debt service · Mozambique |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 21.4% of exports |
| 2016 | 27.3% of exports |
| 2017 | 23.1% of exports |
| 2018 | 26.7% of exports |
| 2019 | 28.5% of exports |
| 2020 | 22.8% of exports |
| 2021 | 103.7% of exports |
| 2022 | 59.2% of exports |
| 2023 | 46.2% of exports |
| 2024 | 46.5% 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, Mozambique, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/debt-service/mozambique
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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.