Eswatini: Short-term debt (% of total reserves)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Eswatini's short-term debt (% of total reserves) rose 1.18 percentage points on 2023 (from 11.84% to 13.02%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.31 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 17.83 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 52.81 percentage points in 1997 and the biggest yearly fall was 45.75 percentage points in 1998. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains less than 1% 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

In 2024, Eswatini had the 73rd highest value of the 96 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Eswatini in the 2024 ranking

• Montenegro — 69th of 96: 13.51%
• Samoa — 70th of 96: 13.5%
• Peru — 71st of 96: 13.22%
• Gambia, The — 73rd of 96: 9.79%
• Ethiopia — 74th of 96: 9.29%
• Ecuador — 75th of 96: 9.07%

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 48 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, Dem. Rep. — 11.25% (2023)
• Congo, Rep. — 86.58% (2024)
• Eritrea

More economic policy & debt data for Eswatini

• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) — US$330.7 million (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current LCU) — 5.92 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) — 6.41% (2025)
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current US$) — US$4.77 billion (2025)
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current LCU) — 85.32 billion (2025)
• GDP (current US$) — US$5.16 billion (2025)
• GDP (current LCU) — 92.32 billion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$4,108 (2025)
• GDP per capita (current LCU) — 73,492 (2025)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Eswatini's short-term debt (% of total reserves)?

13.02% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1977?

It is up 3.52 percentage points from 9.5% in 1977. The highest value was 53.62% in 1997 and the lowest 0.81% in 1996.

How does Eswatini rank?

73rd highest of 96 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in short-term debt (% of total reserves) unusual for Eswatini?

In 2024, Eswatini's short-term debt (% of total reserves) rose 1.18 percentage points on 2023 (from 11.84% to 13.02%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.31 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 17.83 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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.