The Central Bank of Nicaragua has released external debt statistics for the fourth quarter of 2024, putting total external debt at USD 15,556.2 million, with 55.7% owed by the public sector (USD 8,657.7 million) and 44.3% by the private sector (USD 6,898.5 million). The total stock fell by USD 113.4 million (0.7%) from December 2023, reflecting a decline in private external debt of USD 222.1 million alongside an increase in public external debt of USD 108.7 million. By creditor type, 44.4% of total external debt was owed to official multilateral creditors, 31.8% to official bilateral creditors, 21.5% to suppliers and others (including trade credits with related companies), and 2.3% to commercial banks. Total disbursements in 2024 were USD 4,298.3 million, of which 86.8% came from private creditors and 13.2% from official creditors, with the largest uses reported as commerce (23.5%), electricity, gas and water (22.4%), and financial intermediation (19.0%); USD 3,766.7 million was disbursed to the private sector and USD 531.6 million to the public sector. External debt service totalled USD 4,863.5 million in 2024, comprising USD 4,465.9 million in principal and USD 397.6 million in interest and commissions, with 85.1% paid by the private sector; the average maturity of long-term external debt was 14 years with a weighted average interest rate of 5.31%, while public external debt had an average contracted maturity of 21 years including 10 years of grace and an average interest rate of 2.77%.

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