Seven African countries will have a public debt to gross domestic product ratio above the symbolic 100% mark by the end of 2021, according to a report by the Centre d’Étude et de Réflexion sur le Monde Francophone (CERMF).
Published on Wednesday 27 October 2021 and extrapolating data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to October 20, 2021, this projection establishes a ranking of the ten most indebted states.
At the top of the list is Sudan, with $56 billion in debt. However, this East African giant’s debt ratio has fallen to 209.9% of GDP from 272.9% at the end of 2020, thanks in particular to the decision in July 2021 by the Paris Club countries to cancel part of its debt ($14.1bn, including $5bn by France, out of the $23.5bn owed). In this list of the continent’s most indebted countries are two Mediterranean countries: Tunisia and Egypt (debt of 91.4% of its GDP).
Tunisia would thus make “a remarkable and historic entry”, as the report indicates, in ninth place in this Top 10 with a debt reaching 90.20% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), against 89.7% in 2020.
“Once considered a model of economic and social development for the whole of Africa and the Arab world, despite some shortcomings, sometimes exaggerated, Tunisia has indeed experienced a lost decade by recording an annual economic growth of only 0.7% on average over the ten-year period 2011-2020,” the CERMF analyses.
The Center also points out that “this North African country, which previously enjoyed an excellent reputation on the international financial markets, unparalleled on the continent outside of South Africa at the time, is no longer able to launch any bond issue under optimal conditions (low interest rates close to those enjoyed by some developed countries). This forces the country to turn to the IMF and the World Bank, and/or to seek the financial guarantee of a major foreign power.
Since the Tunisian revolution of January 2011, Tunisia has not managed to curb its political instability and economic crisis, recalls in this regard the site Econostrum.
