Developing countries’ external debt estimated at $12.3tn, UN committee hears

Developing countries’ total external debt reached an estimated $12.3 trillion in 2025, Penelope Hawkins of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) told the UN General Assembly’s Second Committee during its debate on macroeconomic policy on 8 October. She said external debt payments were absorbing 18% of both export earnings and government revenue in the least developed countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, she put the cost at almost 16% of government revenue — more than twice the average for developing countries excluding China. [1]

Hawkins said closing the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals would require both domestic and external financing to rise by about a third. She called for more concessional and local-currency lending, the redirection of special drawing rights, stronger financial safety nets and a reversal of the decline in official development assistance. [1]