However, South Africa's debt levels stayed firmly below the 60 per cent level, which is deemed by the Maastricht Treaty participants as the level beyond which fiscal health is at risk. South Africa's foreign debt receded from 26,8 per cent of GDP in 1989 to just above 20 per cent in the early 1990s.
As international borrowing was resumed from 1994, foreign debt rose significantly to 29,9 per cent of GDP in 1999. But this is still quite low in comparison with other developing countries. The South African private sector's indebtedness to the banking system has risen over the past decade.