Economy · External debt · Burundi
Burundi’s external debt fell to $1bn in 2024.
$1bn
2024
Down $0.01bn from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
$1bn
What it is. External debt is the total that a country's residents owe to lenders abroad, counted in current US dollars from the World Bank's International Debt Statistics. It covers borrowing by the government and by other residents that must be repaid in foreign currency, goods or services. Debt the state owes to its own citizens and banks in local currency sits outside it. Because the stock is valued in dollars, new loans, repayments and exchange rate movements all change the figure.
Lower is better. A smaller stock of foreign debt means smaller interest and repayment bills in hard currency, so lower is better. Burundi's external debt in 2024 was $1bn, a fall of 0.95% from $1bn a year earlier. Since 2015 the lowest figure was $0.59bn in 2018 and the highest was $1bn in 2023. The 2024 figure therefore sits at the top of its range for the period, just below that 2023 peak.
Why it matters. Burundi must service this debt in foreign currency, which draws on the same dollars that pay for imports. A stock near its highest since 2015 leaves the state with less room to borrow further or to absorb a shock to export earnings. For households the effect arrives indirectly, through the availability of foreign exchange for imported goods and through government budgets that go to interest.
| Period | External debt · Burundi |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $0.63bn |
| 2016 | $0.6bn |
| 2017 | $0.61bn |
| 2018 | $0.59bn |
| 2019 | $0.63bn |
| 2020 | $0.67bn |
| 2021 | $0.98bn |
| 2022 | $0.95bn |
| 2023 | $1bn |
| 2024 | $1bn |
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, Burundi, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/external-debt/burundi
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 external debt stocks, current US dollars (International Debt Statistics). Unit: USD bn.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series DT.DOD.DECT.CD), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.