S&P Global Ratings has cautioned that African governments face rising debt risks as hard-currency repayment schedules in 2026 increase pressure on external buffers, contributing to rollover risks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The agency’s latest African sovereign outlook report published on Monday shows that government external debt repayments are now over three times larger than in 2012.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Structurally high debt and low, concentrated revenue bases will continue to pose key risks and, with government external debt repayments likely to exceed $90 billion this year, external vulnerabilities have also increased,” S&P’s Benjamin Young wrote in the report.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Government external debt repayments are approaching a peak.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Egypt accounts for nearly one-third of this year’s tally with $27 billion due in principal repayments, followed by Angola, South Africa (SA), and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
S&P noted that average sovereign ratings in the region have reached their highest levels since late 2020, reflecting reform momentum and improved growth. However, it was a sign of key credit metrics stabilising rather than significantly improving, as structural adjustments to reduce debt burdens tended to require longer timelines, S&P analysts said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Easing global financial conditions and investors seeking to diversify their investments have reopened the door for a number of African sovereigns to tap global capital markets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, some of them, such as Republic of Congo, had to offer double-digit yields in recent months, widely seen as too expensive for issuers, and a number of governments have resorted to off-market deals such as private placements or total return swaps.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Economic growth is projected to remain steady, with average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 4.5% in 2026, while fiscal deficits are expected to modestly consolidate to 3.5% of GDP. Nevertheless, government debt is anticipated to stay elevated at around 61% of GDP on average.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The rising debt redemption burden is leading several governments to turn to liability management strategies, such as buybacks, exchanges, and maturity extensions, to reduce refinancing risks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Notable users of such approaches include C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, Benin, Uganda, Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Kenya and SA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23254,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-23253","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"S&P Global Ratings has cautioned that African governments face rising debt risks","published_date":"2026-02-03 15:38:01","news_description":"S&P Global Ratings has cautioned that African governments face rising debt risks","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26278,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23253\/revisions\/26278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}