Debt in Djibouti

Public debt covers obligations of the government and public entities. The Ministère du Budget and its Directions de la Dette Publique manage sovereign borrowing, debt statistics, debt service and the SDMT, a medium-term debt management strategy. The Comité National d’Endettement Public (CNEP) reviews the annual borrowing plan and oversees the strategy. Decree n°2026-108/PR/MEFI adopts the SDMT for 2026–2028, and the annual borrowing plan is attached to the finance law. The Banque Centrale de Djibouti supervises credit institutions and maintains the Centrale des Risques, the Système d’information sur le crédit and the Registre de Sûretés Mobilières. External public and publicly guaranteed debt is the dominant national debt exposure. The cited debt-sustainability reporting puts the end-2024 stock at about 68.9% of GDP, largely external. State-owned enterprise borrowing and guarantees create a major contingent-liability risk; an IMF 2024 assessment reported that state-owned enterprises accounted for about 80% of external borrowing since 2013. Creditor concentration includes Exim Bank China, Exim Bank India and multilateral lenders. Foreign-exchange, export, refinancing and public-enterprise risks can affect repayment capacity. The cited reports put external arrears at about 3% of GDP at the end of 2024 and about 2.7% in March 2025. A four-year moratorium with Exim Bank China was agreed in 2023. These figures are tied to their reporting dates. An IMF assessment from 2025 described debt as unsustainable and identified fiscal consolidation, stronger state-owned-enterprise governance and transparency, reserve rebuilding and debt sustainability as policy priorities. Households and small firms may seek commercial banks, Islamic banks, microfinance institutions, CPEC and FDED channels, credit-guarantee mechanisms, and housing or mortgage finance. Lenders commonly assess identity, income or cash flow, repayment capacity, collateral or a guarantor and their own policy. Interest or profit, service and origination fees, currency, maturity, grace periods, guarantees and collateral vary by contract or programme. Islamic-finance products may use forms such as Mourabaha, Moudharaba, Moucharaka, Ijara, Istisna’a or Bai Salam. Access remains limited for some low-income, rural, women and youth borrowers. Family loans, community savings, interest-free group loans and store or supplier credit fill gaps, but their legal force and protection vary. Mobile or electronic payment services do not by themselves remove a debt. A debtor should keep a written record of principal, interest or profit, fees, currency, maturity, grace period, collateral, guarantor, covenants and default terms. Receipts, messages and signed agreements help prove payments and agreed changes. When repayment becomes difficult, contacting the creditor before a missed payment can open a request for rescheduling, a longer maturity, a grace period, instalments or a negotiated settlement. An updated balance and signed amendment provide stronger evidence than an informal promise. A borrower is expected to provide truthful information, follow the contract, protect pledged collateral, retain payment proof and report difficulties promptly. Collection and enforcement depend on the instrument, security and applicable legal process; default does not automatically establish wage seizure, repossession or criminal liability. For a business in serious distress, the practical sequence can involve early creditor negotiation, mediation where available, and OHADA procedures. OHADA, the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa, provides rules for simplified recovery of receivables, enforcement, security interests and collective proceedings. Commercial and professional cases may enter preventive procedures, redressement judiciaire, which is court-supervised reorganization, or liquidation. The company should preserve accounts, creditor lists, assets and liabilities, tax records and payroll records. Access, deadlines, court involvement, administrator fees and legal costs depend on the case and require local advice. No evidence establishes a universal consumer personal-bankruptcy or debt-discharge system or a national one-stop debt-advice agency in Djibouti. Available support may instead come from the lender, a microfinance or CPEC institution, legal counsel, Djibouti courts or an OHADA procedure. Formal or informal alternatives can reduce an access barrier, but they do not remove the repayment obligation.