South Africa: Interest payments (% of expense)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2022, South Africa's interest payments (% of expense) rose 1.37 percentage points on 2021 (from 12.92% to 14.29%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2021), the average change was −0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.01 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.4 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 1.84 percentage points in 1997 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.24 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 2013 to 2022 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.55 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 90% of the movement over 10 observed years.

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

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 14.58% for 2025. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2020 to 2022 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.07%, against 1.84% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2022, South Africa had the 6th highest value of the 23 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 South Africa in the 2022 ranking

• Malawi — 2nd of 23: 26.35%
• India — 3rd of 23: 23.23%
• Lao PDR — 4th of 23: 16.99%
• Mozambique — 6th of 23: 11.3%
• Equatorial Guinea — 7th of 23: 9.94%
• Hungary — 8th of 23: 6.64%

What this measures

Interest payments include interest payments on government debt (including long-term bonds, long-term loans, and other debt instruments) to domestic and foreign residents. This indicator is expressed as percentage of total expenses which is any decrease in net worth resulting from a transaction.

Limitations: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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

All 51 values

Interest payments (% of expense) in nearby economies

• Angola — 31.91% (2019)
• Botswana — 4.04% (2023)
• Burkina Faso — 11.93% (2023)
• Burundi — 3.33% (2021)
• Cabo Verde — 8.76% (2020)
• Cameroon — 7.79% (2021)
• Central African Republic — 5.17% (2021)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 0.68% (2022)
• Congo, Rep. — 11.51% (2021)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 14.14% (2023)
• Equatorial Guinea

More public sector data for South Africa

• Military expenditure (current USD) — 3.17 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (current LCU) — 56.76 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 0.74% (2025)
• Arms exports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 115 million (2025)
• Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 30 million (2025)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (current LCU) — 414.86 billion (2024)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (% of GDP) — 5.64% (2024)
• Net investment in nonfinancial assets (current LCU) — 98.59 billion (2024)
• Net investment in nonfinancial assets (% of GDP) — 1.34% (2024)

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 South Africa's interest payments (% of expense)?

14.29% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1972?

It is up 6.33 percentage points from 7.96% in 1972. The highest value was 19.75% in 1998 and the lowest 6.17% in 1975.

How does South Africa rank?

6th highest of 23 economies with data for 2022.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GC.XPN.INTP.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) 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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