FinObservatory

LCA · Latin America & Caribbean · Upper middle income · Blend

St. Lucia

St. Lucia owed $1.19B to nonresidents in 2024, the 106th largest stock among the 120 economies that report to the Debtor Reporting System. Its first external-debt stock in IDS is 1981.

$1.19B
External debt stock
2024, 106th of 120 reporters
51%
External debt, % of GNI
2024
4.7%
Debt service, % of exports
2024
$7K
External debt per capita
2024

Who St. Lucia owes

Public and publicly guaranteed debt by creditor class, percent of PPG, 19812024. In 2024 PPG stood at $1.04B: 32.0% owed to private creditors, 44.1% to multilateral lenders, and 23.9% to bilateral and other official creditors as a residual.

Private creditorsBilateral and other official (residual)Multilateral
0%25%50%75%100%198119902000201020202024MultilateralBilateral+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 LCA. Bilateral and other official is the residual: PPG minus private minus multilateral. 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 St. Lucia in 2024.

Concessional debt, % of total external debt
loans with an original grant element of 35% or more
24.3%
Short-term debt, % of total external debt
original maturity of one year or less, any borrower
6.7%
Total reserves, % of total external debt
the buffer against the stock
34%
External debt, % of exports
goods, services and primary income
72%
Debt service paid
principal and interest actually paid in 2024
$78.6M
Of which interest
interest payments on all external debt
$56.0M
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 LCA in 2024. Methodology

What St. Lucia pays, and what it is contracted to pay

St. Lucia paid $78.6M in external debt service in 2024. It is contracted to pay $82.9M in 2025 and $797.3M in total over 20252032 on debt it has already contracted. Those years are a repayment schedule, not a forecast of what St. Lucia 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 bn00.050.10.15000000000000002198119902000201020202032

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 LCA, 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, 19812024

Total external debt in current US dollars, so the path mixes new borrowing with the falling value of the dollar over 43 years. IDS carries no constant-price series, so this is not deflated. $15.5M in 1981, $1.19B in 2024.

19812024

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

What IDS does not carry for St. Lucia

2 of the 24 IDS indicators carry no value for St. Lucia in 2024: Debt forgiveness grants (current US$); External debt stocks, private nonguaranteed (PNG) (DOD, current US$). 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 St. Lucia 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 St. Lucia did not report is not here.

All 120 reporting economies · Methodology