Sovereign debt levels and debt servicing costs have risen in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in recent years and will continue to do so in 2016 and 2017, Fitch Ratings says. The high share of concessional debt means that interest costs are not excessive for most countries in the region, but their increase makes fiscal consolidation more challenging.
The median general government debt/GDP ratio for Fitch-rated SSA sovereigns climbed from 30.2% in 2011 to 49.7% in 2015. Our country-by-country fiscal projections imply that the median ratio will continue rising, to 51.4% in 2016 and 53.3% in 2017.
Two key drivers are the commodities slump that has led to a sharp decline in fiscal revenues among exporters, and continuing reliance b…
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