Guinea-Bissau and Togo present a high risk of external debt distress for total debt, indicates their common central bank (BCEAO) in its 2020 annual report. Which specifies that the latest debt sustainability analyzes show that the risks of debt distress of this type are moderate for all other WAEMU member states.
According to the institution, the ratio of outstanding external debt to GDP is estimated at 29% in 2019 for all 8 countries in the region, against 26.5% a year earlier. It “stood at 24.0% in 2019 against 19.4% in 2018 in Benin, 22.8% against 21.4% in Burkina Faso, 25.9% against 23.6% in Côte d’Ivoire , 40.5% against 34.3% in Guinea-Bissau, 23.5% against 24.1% in Mali, 25.4% against 24.3% in Niger, 53.5% against 47.7% in Senegal and 17.7% against 15.2% in Togo, ”says the report, adding that no country in the Union has accumulated payment arrears on its external debt in 2020.
It should be noted that the overall external debt of the 8 countries concerned stood at CFAF 25.731 billion (approximately USD 48 billion) at the end of December 2019, against CFAF 22.094.2 billion at the end of December 2018, i.e. an annual increase. by 16.5%.
“The debt profile of the States of the Union had greatly improved thanks to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief (MDRI) Initiatives. Public indebtedness started to rise again in the early 2010s as a result of greater debt capacity and increased financing needs, “said the Central Bank.
