The sustained favorable external debt profile, demonstrated by the continued easing of the country’s external debt to GDP ratio, supports the external sector position. The country’s external debt metrics continue to ease significantly with external debt-to-GDP ratio settling at 23.7 percent as of end-September 2019 compared to about 60.0 percent in mid2000s.
A large part of the country’s external debt remains in medium-to-long term maturity profile supporting a manageable debt repayment schedule over the medium-to-long term horizon. In addition, majority of the foreign borrowings are also fixed interest rate bearing, which makes it unaffected by any future foreign exchange fluctuations. Seventh, the national government has ample fiscal policy space to support accelerated public investments.