European credit insurance group Credendo indicated that the public debt level in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies has been rising since 2014, with the debt level in SSA's oil-exporters increasing at a faster pace. It considered that SSA economies are facing difficulties in coping with the higher debt level, given their elevated debt servicing costs and weak revenue collection capacity. It noted that the region’s public debt level reached 45% of GDP at the end of 2017, up from 32.2% of GDP at end-2014, due to wide structural fiscal deficits. In this context, it said that 23 out of 48 SSA countries had a fiscal deficit that was wider than 5% of GDP in 2016, mainly due to their large investment programs, the drop in global oil prices and lower fiscal revenues, compared to five countries during the 2011-13 period. Also, Credendo pointed out that a large number of SSA economies has been shifting away from expensive domestic debt towards external borrowing, which increased the region’s median external debt level from 22.8% of GDP at end-2007 to 41.2% of GDP at the end of 2016.
Source: Credendo
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