Congo, Dem. Rep.: Short-term debt (% of total reserves)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Congo, Dem. Rep.'s short-term debt (% of total reserves) fell 2.18 percentage points on 2022 (from 13.43% to 11.25%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was −30.79 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1,003.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2,779.97 percentage points in 1993 and the biggest yearly fall was 3,588.85 percentage points in 2002. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 2% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Congo, Dem. Rep. in the 2023 ranking

• Myanmar — 2nd of 3: 0.48%
• Burundi — 3rd of 3: 0.33%

What this measures

Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Total reserves includes gold.

Limitations: The DRS encourages debtor countries to voluntarily provide information on their short-term external obligations. By its nature, short-term external debt is difficult to monitor: loan-by-loan registration is normally impractical, and monitoring systems typically rely on information requested periodically by the central bank from the banking sector. The World Bank regards the debtor country as the authoritative source of information on its short-term debt. Where such information is not available from the debtor country, data are derived from BIS data on international bank lending based on time remaining to original maturity.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 54 values

Short-term debt (% of total reserves) in nearby economies

• Angola — 40.78% (2024)
• Botswana — 4.19% (2024)
• Burundi — 0.33% (2023)
• Cabo Verde — 49.56% (2024)
• Cameroon — 18.79% (2024)
• Central African Republic — 25.85% (2024)
• Chad — 1.91% (2024)
• Comoros — 0% (2024)
• Congo, Rep. — 86.58% (2024)
• Eritrea — 17.07% (2019)
• Eswatini

More economic policy & debt data for Congo, Dem. Rep.

• Exports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$) — US$28.48 billion (2025)
• Exports of goods and services (constant LCU) — 13.49 trillion (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$) — US$30.49 billion (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (constant LCU) — 8.25 trillion (2025)
• GDP (current US$) — US$91.03 billion (2025)
• GDP (current LCU) — 243.66 trillion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$64.04 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant LCU) — 18.51 trillion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$806.78 (2025)
• GDP per capita (current LCU)

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Questions people ask

What is Congo, Dem. Rep.'s short-term debt (% of total reserves)?

11.25% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1970?

It is down 6.72 percentage points from 17.97% in 1970. The highest value was 4,318% in 1998 and the lowest 8.49% in 2021.

Is the latest change in short-term debt (% of total reserves) unusual for Congo, Dem. Rep.?

In 2023, Congo, Dem. Rep.'s short-term debt (% of total reserves) fell 2.18 percentage points on 2022 (from 13.43% to 11.25%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was −30.79 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1,003.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator DT.DOD.DSTC.IR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB); International Monetary Fund (IMF), type: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files; World Bank (WB), type: GDP estimates; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), type: GDP estimates Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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