Liberia: Current account balance (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Liberia's current account balance (% of GDP) rose 14.01 percentage points on 2023 (from -11.51% to 2.51%).

Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was +0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 10.62 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.3 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 27.17 percentage points in 2013 and the biggest yearly fall was 27.04 percentage points in 2010. 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 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, Liberia had the 8th highest value of the 30 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 Liberia in the 2024 ranking

• Malta — 5th of 30: 7.1%
• Naoero — 6th of 30: 5.8%
• Nicaragua — 7th of 30: 4.15%
• Zimbabwe — 9th of 30: 1.21%
• Haiti — 10th of 30: -0.6%
• Guinea — 11th of 30: -1.57%

What this measures

Balance of current transactions (transactions in goods and services, earned income and transfer income) between residents and non-residents. The term current account balance is used in the external accounts and is expressed from the perspective of resident units. The term current external balance is used in the national accounts and is expressed from the perspective of the non-resident units, and therefore with the opposite sign. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

All 30 values

Current account balance (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 0.34% (2025)
• Benin — -8.18% (2023)
• Botswana — 2.93% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — -3.97% (2024)
• Burundi — -13.71% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 3.56% (2025)
• Cameroon — -3.28% (2024)
• Comoros — -1.68% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — -4.33% (2025)
• Congo, Rep. — 11.57% (2021)
• Côte d'Ivoire

More economic policy & debt data for Liberia

• GDP (current US$) — US$5.25 billion (2025)
• GDP (current LCU) — 5.25 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$3.92 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant LCU) — 4.19 billion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$915.33 (2025)
• GDP per capita (current LCU) — 915.33 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$684.04 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant LCU) — 731.74 (2025)
• GNI (current US$) — US$4.88 billion (2025)
• GNI (current LCU) — 4.88 billion (2025)
• GNI per capita (current LCU) — 851.82 (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Liberia's current account balance (% of GDP)?

2.51% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1979?

It is up 2.46 percentage points from 0.04% in 1979. The highest value was 5.3% in 2015 and the lowest -60% in 2012.

How does Liberia rank?

8th highest of 30 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in current account balance (% of GDP) unusual for Liberia?

In 2024, Liberia's current account balance (% of GDP) rose 14.01 percentage points on 2023 (from -11.51% to 2.51%). Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was +0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 10.62 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.3 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator BN.CAB.XOKA.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Development Indicators Database, World Bank (WB); National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 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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