FinObservatory

ERI · Sub-Saharan Africa · Low income · IDA

Eritrea

State of Eritrea owed $667.3M to nonresidents in 2024, the 112th largest stock among the 120 economies that report to the Debtor Reporting System. Its first external-debt stock in IDS is 1994.

$667.3M
External debt stock
2024, 112th of 120 reporters
n/a
External debt, % of GNI
not reported
n/a
Debt service, % of exports
no export figure in IDS
$189
External debt per capita
2024

Who Eritrea owes

Public and publicly guaranteed debt by creditor class, percent of PPG, 19942024. In 2024 PPG stood at $581.9M: 0.0% owed to private creditors, 88.9% to multilateral lenders, and 11.1% to bilateral and other official creditors as a residual.

Private creditorsBilateral and other official (residual)Multilateral
0%25%50%75%100%1994200020052010201520202024MultilateralBilateral+Private

Source: World Bank International Debt Statistics, Debtor Reporting System (reported by the borrowing government). Selection: DT.DOD.DPPG.CD, DT.DOD.PRVT.CD and DT.DOD.MLAT.ZS for ERI. Bilateral and other official is the residual: PPG minus private minus multilateral. Eritrea reports no value for PPG owed to private creditors in 2024, so its private leg is taken as zero and any private PPG debt it holds is inside the residual. Methodology

On what terms

The composition above says who lent. These say on what terms, and against what the debt is measured. Blank means IDS carries no value for Eritrea in 2024.

Concessional debt, % of total external debt
loans with an original grant element of 35% or more
85.3%
Short-term debt, % of total external debt
original maturity of one year or less, any borrower
6.9%
Total reserves, % of total external debt
the buffer against the stock
not reported
External debt, % of exports
goods, services and primary income
not reported
Debt service paid
principal and interest actually paid in 2024
$21.8M
Of which interest
interest payments on all external debt
$3.2M
Private nonguaranteed debt
borrowed by companies and banks, no state guarantee
not reported

Source: World Bank International Debt Statistics, Debtor Reporting System (reported by the borrowing government). Selection: DT.DOD.ALLC.ZS, DT.DOD.DSTC.ZS, FI.RES.TOTL.DT.ZS, DT.DOD.DECT.EX.ZS, DT.TDS.DECT.CD, DT.INT.DECT.CD, DT.DOD.DPNG.CD for ERI in 2024. Methodology

What Eritrea pays, and what it is contracted to pay

Eritrea paid $21.8M in external debt service in 2024. It is contracted to pay $36.9M in 2025 and $250.5M in total over 20252032 on debt it has already contracted. Those years are a repayment schedule, not a forecast of what Eritrea will pay: borrowing it has not yet done cannot be in them.

Total debt serviceOf which public and publicly guaranteedScheduled on debt already contracted, not a forecast
SCHEDULEDUSD bn00.0250.050.075000000000000010.1199520002005201020152020202520302032

Source: World Bank International Debt Statistics, Debtor Reporting System (reported by the borrowing government). Selection: DT.TDS.DECT.CD (total debt service) and DT.TDS.DPPG.CD (PPG debt service) for ERI, all years present in the file. Actual through 2024, which is the last year of the debt-stock series; everything after it is the contracted repayment schedule. Methodology

The stock, 19942024

Total external debt in current US dollars, so the path mixes new borrowing with the falling value of the dollar over 30 years. IDS carries no constant-price series, so this is not deflated. $29.1M in 1994, $667.3M in 2024.

19942024

Source: World Bank International Debt Statistics, Debtor Reporting System (reported by the borrowing government). Selection: DT.DOD.DECT.CD for ERI, every year with a value, current US dollars. Methodology

What IDS does not carry for Eritrea

8 of the 24 IDS indicators carry no value for Eritrea in 2024: Debt forgiveness grants (current US$); External debt stocks (% of GNI); External debt stocks (% of exports of goods, services and primary income); External debt stocks, private nonguaranteed (PNG) (DOD, current US$); PPG, IBRD (DOD, current US$); PPG, private creditors (DOD, current US$); Total debt service (% of exports of goods, services and primary income); Total reserves (% of total external debt). A blank has three possible causes and IDS distinguishes none of them: the country did not report the series, the series does not apply to it (an IBRD stock for a country with no IBRD loan), or the series has ended for every country. So neither does this page.

Every IDS series here is what Eritrea reported to the World Bank. The bilateral leg of the creditor chart is the exception: this page derives it as a residual, and it absorbs whatever went unreported. Debt Eritrea did not report is not here.

All 120 reporting economies · Methodology