Some $120 billion was added to the debt pile of frontier markets in 2022, bringing it to an all-time high of $3.6 trillion.

As borrowing slowed, frontier market debt dipped to $3.5 trillion in Q2 2022—still $480 billion above pre-pandemic levels. Helped by economic recovery in an inflationary environment, the FM debt-to-GDP ratio edged down to 103% in Q2 2022.

Total debt in frontier markets surged to a new record high of $3.5 trillion in 2021-some $500 billion above pre-pandemic levels. However, after reaching an all-time high in 2020, FM debt declined to 108% of GDP in 2021-helped by recovery and inflation.

Total debt in frontier markets (FM) reached a record high of nearly 110% of GDP in 2020, up from less than 100% in 2019. We have added 15 new countries to our FM debt database.

Total frontier market debt hit a new record of over 120% of GDP in Q2 2020, up 6 percentage points from end-2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on rising global debt levels and sovereign debt vulnerabilities.