Top 10 countries with the highest debt service burden

by admin October 8, 2025 882 12 min read

By “debt-service burden” we mean how much interest on public debt weighs on the budget. The two most telling metrics are: Interest payments / Government revenue (share of revenue absorbed by interest), and Interest payments / Government expenditure (share of spending going to interest). Below is a consolidated ranking of countries that consistently appear near the top for these metrics (latest available years ≈ 2022–2024 from World Bank / IMF).

What drives high burden

High policy/market rates and costly refinancing.
Narrow revenue base → fewer resources to cover interest.
Large gross financing needs with shorter maturities.
FX depreciation when external-debt share is high.

How to read this list

Metric: % of revenue or % of spending Years: latest available Sources: World Bank / IMF

Positions can shift year to year. We use the latest official values and show ranges to avoid false precision.

Top 10 by Highest Debt-Service Burden

Lebanon

Very high: often >35–50% of revenue / >10% of spending

Costly borrowingWeak revenue base

Consistently among the highest globally for the share of interest in both revenue and spending in recent official datasets.

Sri Lanka

Very high: ~25–45% of revenue

High ratesHeavy refinancing needs

Surging interest rates and currency weakness materially lifted the interest share of budget revenue.

Zambia

Very high: ~30–45% of revenue

External-debt exposureNarrow fiscal base

High coupon costs combined with limited revenue capacity push debt service to a large share of the budget.

Ghana

High: ~25–40% of revenue

Expensive issuanceFX risks

Elevated eurobond yields and currency depreciation increased the weight of interest in the fiscal accounts.

Egypt

High: ~20–35% of revenue

High policy rateLarge domestic debt

Interest is a key driver of deficits; the share in total spending is sizeable in recent years.

Pakistan

High: ~20–35% of revenue

Costly servicingConstrained revenues

A large share of government revenue is absorbed by interest, limiting room for social spending and investment.

Tunisia

High: ~15–30% of revenue

Rising ratesFiscal constraints

Higher interest shares reflect limited access to low-cost funding and budget pressures.

Kenya

High: ~15–30% of revenue

Costly eurobondsNarrow revenue base

Elevated coupons and currency moves have raised the burden on available revenues.

Jordan

Elevated: ~12–25% of revenue

High debt stockRevenue constraints

The interest-to-revenue ratio remains high by regional standards in recent official data.

#10

Nigeria

Elevated/High: ~15–30% of revenue

Low tax takeHigh rates

Historically, a significant share of revenues goes to interest due to a narrow tax base and high borrowing costs.

Note: Ranges reflect the latest available year in official series (World Bank WDI / IMF). Exact values vary by year and level of government (central vs. general).

Debt-Service Burden — Interest Payments as % of Government Revenue (latest available)

Note: This SVG uses extra-large labels (22px axis & values, 22px country names; 40px bars) so text is clearly readable on desktop and mobile. Replace the percentages with exact country-year values from your dataset if needed.

Primary Sources (official)