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

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Zambia's short-term debt (% of total reserves) fell 39.16 percentage points on 2023 (from 107.44% to 68.28%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −18.89 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 116.91 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below 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 1,121.06 percentage points in 1986 and the biggest yearly fall was 557.22 percentage points in 1990. 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 the straight-line trend is upward, about 7.25 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 72% 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.

How it compares

In 2024, Zambia had the 19th 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 Zambia in the 2024 ranking

• South Africa — 15th of 96: 71.56%
• El Salvador — 16th of 96: 71.51%
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 17th of 96: 69%
• Fiji — 19th of 96: 65.85%
• North Macedonia — 20th of 96: 60.54%
• Bangladesh — 21st of 96: 60.51%

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

More economic policy & debt data for Zambia

• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) — US$1.19 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current LCU) — 29.79 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) — 4.11% (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (current US$) — US$2.53 billion (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (current LCU) — 63.49 billion (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP) — 8.75% (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (current US$) — US$10.2 billion (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (current LCU) — 256.39 billion (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (% of GDP)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

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

68.28% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1970?

It is up 37.2 percentage points from 31.08% in 1970. The highest value was 1,454% in 1986 and the lowest 17.14% in 2002.

How does Zambia rank?

19th highest of 96 economies with data for 2024.

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

In 2024, Zambia's short-term debt (% of total reserves) fell 39.16 percentage points on 2023 (from 107.44% to 68.28%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −18.89 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 116.91 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below 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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