Economy · External debt · Mali
Mali’s external debt fell to $6.4bn in 2024.
$6.4bn
2024
Down $0.03bn from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
$6.4bn
What it is. External debt is the total that a country's government, banks and companies owe to lenders abroad at a given date, as compiled in the World Bank's International Debt Statistics. It is a stock, so it reflects borrowing built up over many years rather than what was borrowed in a single year. Values are in current US dollars, so exchange rate moves change the figure even when the underlying loans stay the same. Debt owed by Malians to domestic lenders is left out, and the figure says nothing about the size of the economy that has to service it.
Lower is better. Lower is better because every dollar owed abroad has to be repaid in foreign currency, which draws on export earnings and public revenue. Mali's external debt was $6.4bn in 2024, down from $6.5bn a year earlier, a fall of 0.48%. Since 2015 the range runs from a low of $3.7bn in 2015 to a high of $6.5bn in 2023. The latest figure therefore sits just below the top of that range, well above where the period began.
Why it matters. A foreign debt stock of $6.4bn means the Malian state and Malian firms owe a sum that is far larger than at the start of the period, and repayments must be found in dollars or other hard currencies. For the government, that competes with spending on salaries, services and investment. The small fall in 2024 is a first step down from the 2023 peak, and next year's figure will show whether it continues.
| Period | External debt · Mali |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $3.7bn |
| 2016 | $3.8bn |
| 2017 | $4.3bn |
| 2018 | $4.6bn |
| 2019 | $5bn |
| 2020 | $5.8bn |
| 2021 | $6.4bn |
| 2022 | $6.2bn |
| 2023 | $6.5bn |
| 2024 | $6.4bn |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, External debt, Mali, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/external-debt/mali
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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.