FIGURE 1.17 Gross government debt as a share of GDP , 2010 – 23
Percent of GDP 90
80
Other resource intensive
70
Africa
60
50 Non – resource intensive
40 Oil exporters
30 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 ( est .) |
2022 ( proj .) |
2023 ( proj .) |
Source : Staff calculations based on the World Economic Outlook database .
a temporary solution because , with the expiry of the DSSI in December 2021 , participating African countries must prepare to pay back in the following years their 2020 and 2021 debt service due .
Besides the limited potential savings from the DSSI , the facility was not designed to address the structural debt issues confronting the majority of African countries . Thus , in November 2020 , the G20 and the Paris Club creditors reached an agreement on a common debt treatment framework ( the Common Framework ) to address protracted insolvency and liquidity issues in DSSI-eligible countries . The value added by the Common Framework was to bring in newer official creditors , notably China , one of the emerging large official bilateral creditors for many African countries . 4 However , nearly two years after being established , the Common Framework has not credibly achieved its intended objective . Agreement on general principles have proved difficult to translate into operational results due in part to the combined effect of lack of creditor coordination , information sharing and procedural transparency , as well as private sector participation . Of the three African countries — Chad , Ethiopia , and Zambia — that have so far requested debt treatment under the Common Framework , none has completed the process to benefit from the facility . This suggests that more structural reforms are needed to help the continent grow out of debt .
FIGURE 1.18 Potential DSSI savings in the 38 eligible African countries , 2020 and 2021
50
40
30
20
10
0
Potential DSSI savings ($ billions )
Total debt service payment due ($ billions )
2020
Share of payment due ( Percent )
The IMF ’ s 23 August 2021 general allocation of $ 650 billion equivalent in Special Drawing Rights ( SDRs ) has also helped alleviate the liquidity pressures of many countries by boosting their external buffers . Based on their IMF quotas , African countries have collectively received about $ 33.2 billion .
2021
DSSI is the debt service suspension initiative . Source : Staff calculations based on African Development Bank statistics and the World Bank Debtor Reporting System .
AFRICA ’ s economic performance and outlook 29