FinObservatory

TLS · East Asia & Pacific · Lower middle income · Blend

Timor-Leste

Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste owed $296.7M to nonresidents in 2024, the 119th largest stock among the 120 economies that report to the Debtor Reporting System. Its first external-debt stock in IDS is 2012.

$296.7M
External debt stock
2024, 119th of 120 reporters
15%
External debt, % of GNI
2024
3.1%
Debt service, % of exports
2024
$212
External debt per capita
2024

Who Timor-Leste owes

Public and publicly guaranteed debt by creditor class, percent of PPG, 20122024. In 2024 PPG stood at $253.3M: 0.0% owed to private creditors, 90.8% to multilateral lenders, and 9.2% to bilateral and other official creditors as a residual.

Private creditorsBilateral and other official (residual)Multilateral
0%25%50%75%100%2012201420162018202020222024MultilateralBilateral+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 TLS. Bilateral and other official is the residual: PPG minus private minus multilateral. Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste in 2024.

Concessional debt, % of total external debt
loans with an original grant element of 35% or more
12.1%
Short-term debt, % of total external debt
original maturity of one year or less, any borrower
0.4%
Total reserves, % of total external debt
the buffer against the stock
263%
External debt, % of exports
goods, services and primary income
35%
Debt service paid
principal and interest actually paid in 2024
$26.1M
Of which interest
interest payments on all external debt
$11.1M
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 TLS in 2024. Methodology

What Timor-Leste pays, and what it is contracted to pay

Timor-Leste paid $26.1M in external debt service in 2024. It is contracted to pay $30.2M in 2025 and $409.3M in total over 20252032 on debt it has already contracted. Those years are a repayment schedule, not a forecast of what Timor-Leste 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 bn00.020.040.060.0820122014201620182020202220242026202820302032

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 TLS, 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, 20122024

Total external debt in current US dollars, so the path mixes new borrowing with the falling value of the dollar over 12 years. IDS carries no constant-price series, so this is not deflated. $76.0M in 2012, $296.7M in 2024.

20122024

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

What IDS does not carry for Timor-Leste

3 of the 24 IDS indicators carry no value for Timor-Leste in 2024: Debt forgiveness grants (current US$); External debt stocks, private nonguaranteed (PNG) (DOD, current US$); PPG, private creditors (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 Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste did not report is not here.

All 120 reporting economies · Methodology