IMF Ranks Sudan’s Debt as Second-Highest Worldwide
Sudan’s public debt is now the world’s second-highest, IMF data show, as the war and RSF’s economic disruption push the country deeper into fiscal collapse.
Sudan has recorded the second-highest public-debt ratio in the world for 2025, according to the latest World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund, reflecting the scale of economic devastation triggered by the war and the financial collapse that followed the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) assault on state institutions.
The IMF’s projections place Sudan’s debt at 222% of GDP, surpassed only by Japan’s 230%, while Singapore follows in third at 176%. Other heavily indebted economies include Venezuela and Lebanon at 164%, Greece at 147%, Bahrain at 143%, Italy at 137%, the Maldives at 132%, and Mozambique at 131%.
For Sudan, the ranking marks a dramatic deterioration from its position just before the war. In February 2023, weeks before fighting erupted in April, Sudan’s economy—though fragile—was showing signs of stabilisation after years of international isolation.
Inflation had slowed from its earlier triple-digit peaks, foreign exchange markets were partly stabilising under the central bank, and the country was preparing to re-enter the IMF’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) process following commitments made after the 2021 Paris Conference.
That trajectory collapsed once the RSF launched its offensive in Khartoum. The group’s seizure of state assets, disruption of commercial supply chains, looting of banking and financial infrastructure, and control of trade routes accelerated the fiscal breakdown.
The Sudanese Armed Forces, meanwhile, maintained control over the central government’s remaining institutions in Port Sudan, allowing the state to continue publishing macroeconomic data and engaging with international bodies, though under heavy constraints.
The IMF’s global analysis warns that the effects of war, inflation and weakened state capacity continue to push several economies into dangerous levels of indebtedness.
“Global public debt is near record highs. For many countries, the combination of weaker growth and higher interest rates is turning debt into a heavy burden,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech in October 2023.
The warning, though delivered before Sudan’s war escalated, resonates sharply with the country’s current position.
The Fund’s 2025 outlook also projects that global public debt will reach $111 trillion, equivalent to 111% of world GDP, underscoring the scale of fiscal stress confronting developing and advanced economies alike after years of pandemic shocks, inflation, supply-chain disruptions and regional conflicts.
Sudan’s placement as the world’s second-most indebted nation is largely driven by the economic consequences of the war. Key revenue-generating sectors—gold mining, agriculture, customs operations and urban commerce—collapsed as the RSF advanced across major commercial corridors, disrupting the tax base and destroying productive assets.
Government spending, meanwhile, surged to maintain civil administration in Red Sea state, support displaced populations and fund basic state functions.
Despite Sudan’s already-fragile baseline debt before 2023, the country’s fiscal position would not have reached the 2025 IMF ranking without the war’s impact. By contrast, the government has focused on preserving what remains of the state’s financial architecture and maintaining limited coordination with international financial institutions, preventing a complete institutional vacuum.
The IMF has long argued that countries with high debt must strengthen fiscal management, improve revenue efficiency and restore state stability.
In April 2022, during a discussion on post-pandemic recovery, Georgieva stressed that “Restoring macroeconomic stability requires strengthening institutions and confronting structural vulnerabilities.”
For Sudan, that principle now hinges on ending the conflict, restoring national economic administration, and reactivating the HIPC debt-relief process—an outcome impossible while the RSF continues to undermine state structures.