Economy · External debt · Cabo Verde
Cabo Verde’s external debt fell to $2.4bn in 2024.
$2.4bn
2024
Down $0.1bn from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
$2.4bn
What it is. External debt is the total owed by a country's government, firms and banks to lenders outside its borders, counted as a stock at the year's end and converted to current US dollars. Because it is expressed in dollars, a swing in exchange rates can move the figure even when no new borrowing takes place. Debt owed to residents at home is outside the total, and the measure carries no information about the size of the economy that has to repay.
Lower is better. A lower figure means less owed to foreign creditors, smaller repayments in foreign currency and less exposure to refinancing on unfavourable terms. Cabo Verde's external debt was $2.4bn in 2024, down from $2.5bn a year earlier, a fall of 4.2%. Since 2015 the stock has ranged from a low of $1.8bn in 2016 to a high of $2.5bn in 2023. The latest figure therefore sits close to the top of that range, just below the peak reached the year before.
Why it matters. Cabo Verde earns its foreign currency mainly from tourism and money sent home by emigrants, and these earnings pay the interest and principal on this debt. The stock stands above the $1.8bn of 2016, so the state's repayment burden is heavier than at the start of the window. The 2024 decline gives the government a little more room, and the next annual figure will show whether it continues.
| Period | External debt · Cabo Verde |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $1.8bn |
| 2016 | $1.8bn |
| 2017 | $2.1bn |
| 2018 | $2.1bn |
| 2019 | $2.2bn |
| 2020 | $2.4bn |
| 2021 | $2.5bn |
| 2022 | $2.4bn |
| 2023 | $2.5bn |
| 2024 | $2.4bn |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, External debt, Cabo Verde, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/external-debt/cabo-verde
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
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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.