Sri Lanka ranked 14th place on the Visual Capitalist’s top 15 Countries Most in Debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) list – based on the absolute dollar amount each country currently owes the multilateral, as of end-April.
The Visual Capitalist is a data visualisation and infographics focused news website. Ranking the biggest borrower: Argentina at the top, the report said that in contrast to Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Latin American Lower-Middle-Income-Country (LMIC) has repeatedly resorted to IMF bailouts in order to grapple with its chronic inflation and recurrent currency turmoil, raking up a whopping $ 60 billion in debt.
“For example, Argentina has repeatedly sought IMF assistance amid inflation and currency crises, while nations like Sri Lanka and Pakistan have turned to the IMF during severe external debt pressures.”
While Sri Lanka’s debt to the IMF is $ 2,537 million, Pakistan’s and Kenya’s debt were ranked much higher – with $ 10,500 million and $ 4,216 million in debt, respectively. Further, while Sri Lanka’s debt-as-a-share-of-GDP was at 2.6%, the highest ranked in that category included Suriname with 10.5% of GDP, and Pakistan also having a 2.6% of GDP rate.
“The South American nation has the highest IMF debt as a share of GDP, reflecting a severe economic crisis in the early 2020s. After years of fiscal mismanagement, declining oil revenues, and mounting external debt, Suriname defaulted on its sovereign obligations in 2020,” the report said.
The report clarified that though African nations make up the largest group of borrowers, dozens of countries owe only under $ 1 billion, placing them lower in the ranking. The report also noted that the reason for the continent to have the highest number of borrowers is due to structural challenges such as commodity dependence, limited fiscal capacity, and exposure to external shocks.
According to the IMF, as of April, when the staff-level agreement on the combined fifth and sixth reviews was completed, Sri Lanka’s total outstanding debt is approximately SDR 1.76 billion, which is roughly around $ 2.4 billion.
After Cyclone Ditwah last December, Sri Lanka also received emergency financing under the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) for SDR 150.5 million, which was approximately $ 206 million.