The total outstanding credit balances of the International Monetary Fund on African countries amounted to about 38.63 billion units of Special Drawing Rights (about 52.4 billion dollars), representing approximately 31.4% of the Fund’s total credit outstanding globally, according to a calculation based on its official data until July 23, 2026.
Special Drawing Rights are not a currency, but rather an international reserve asset and a unit of account adopted by the IMF, and its value is determined based on a basket that includes the dollar, the euro, the Chinese yuan, the Japanese yen, and the pound sterling.
Egypt topped the African countries in terms of the Fund’s outstanding credit balance with about 6.79 billion Special Drawing Rights units, equivalent to approximately $9.2 billion, followed by Ivory Coast with about 4.14 billion units, then Kenya with 2.85 billion, Ghana with 2.73 billion, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 2.43 billion units.
Angola came next with about 2.23 billion units, then Ethiopia with 2.09 billion, Tanzania with 1.66 billion, Zambia with 1.27 billion, and Cameroon with 1.12 billion Special Drawing Rights.
Countries, including Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa, Libya, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Eswatini, do not appear on the list of countries with current credit balances. However, the absence of a country from the list does not necessarily mean that it has not borrowed previously, but rather it means that it does not have a credit balance due on it within the current schedule.
During the “Africa Forward” summit in Nairobi in May, the Director-General of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, called on African governments to avoid unproductive borrowing, restructure unsustainable debt, and shift more from debt financing to investing in stocks and capital.
Georgieva stressed the importance of strengthening economic institutions and policies, attracting global savings and investments, and accelerating trade integration within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area, in addition to developing deeper and more diversified financial markets.
She said that the concessional financing provided by the Fund to Africa increased from about $8 billion before the Corona pandemic to $36 billion, noting that economic reforms and improving governance could significantly raise sub-Saharan Africa’s production over the next decade.
Fund experts warn that government debt in sub-Saharan Africa, despite its stability at high levels, continues to put pressure on public budgets, as the typical government in the region spends about one-seventh of its revenues on interest payments, reducing the resources available for health, education, and infrastructure.
