Gabon Debt Interest Costs Set to Jump 37 Percent in 2027

Gabon · ECONOMY

Gabon debt interest charges are set to rise almost 37 percent next year, the 2027 draft budget shows. Repayment of principal is counted on a separate line, and it is rising faster still.

Gabon debt interest is about to take a much bigger bite out of the state budget. The Central African oil producer’s 2027 finance bill projects 667.3 billion CFA francs (about US$1.18 billion) in such charges.

That is 36.9 percent more than the 487.6 billion CFA francs (about US$859 million) set aside in the revised 2026 budget. Gabon’s Council of Ministers adopted the bill on Friday 18 September 2026, in the oil city of Port-Gentil.

What the figure covers, and what it leaves out

The 667.3 billion projection covers interest and other financial charges only. It does not include repayment of principal, which the budget books on a separate line.

Principal repayments are set at 1,879.5 billion CFA francs (about US$3.31 billion) for 2027. Clearing unpaid bills to suppliers and lenders takes a further 142.9 billion CFA francs (about US$252 million).

Add interest and principal together and Gabon’s 2027 debt service reaches 2,546.8 billion CFA francs (about US$4.49 billion). On the same basis the revised 2026 budget came to 1,796.8 billion CFA francs (about US$3.16 billion).

Total debt service is therefore rising 41.7 percent, faster than the interest line alone. Principal by itself is up 43.6 percent.

All conversions here use a rate of 567.75 CFA francs to the US dollar, as reported by Reuters on 21 September 2026.

Gabon uses the Central African CFA franc, shared by the six states of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa. That currency is pegged to the euro and differs from the West African CFA franc.

Where the budget stands

The whole 2027 budget is set at 6,223.1 billion CFA francs (about US$11 billion). That is 13.2 percent above the revised 2026 budget of 5,495.2 billion CFA francs (about US$9.68 billion).

Gabon debt interest alone absorbs about 10.7 percent of that budget. Interest and principal together absorb about 41 percent of it.

Budgeted public investment falls to 1,058.4 billion CFA francs (about US$1.86 billion) next year. That is 110.7 billion CFA francs (about US$195 million) less than the revised 2026 figure.

How the government plans to pay

The bill counts on 1,144.1 billion CFA francs (about US$2.01 billion) from international markets. Reuters reported that plan on 21 September 2026.

Another 600 billion CFA francs (about US$1.06 billion) is to come from the regional market in Central Africa. Budget support and bank loans make up much of the rest.

Gabon returned to international bond markets on 30 July 2026. It priced a seven-year Eurobond of US$920 million with a 9.375 percent coupon, above its US$750 million target.

Moody’s, the credit rating agency, rates Gabon Caa2 with a negative outlook. A coupon above 9 percent shows what lenders now charge the country.

How big the debt has become

Gabon’s debt stock stood above 8,600 billion CFA francs (about US$15.1 billion) at the end of October 2025. Agence Ecofin, a Geneva-based African business news service, reported that it had grown 20.6 percent.

The International Monetary Fund is the Washington lender that governments turn to in difficulty. Its staff projected Gabon’s public debt at 94.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2027.

Those projections rest on data available to 2 April 2026. They predate the revised 2026 budget and the July Eurobond.

The same series runs 70.9 percent in 2024 and 78.9 percent in 2025. It reaches 86.1 percent in 2026.

Fitch Ratings, another credit rating agency, publishes lower numbers. It puts the ratio at 80.6 percent in 2026 and 87.6 percent in 2027.

The talks with the Fund

Gabon formally asked the International Monetary Fund for a new lending programme in March 2026. Both sides are aiming for a deal before the end of this year, Gabonreview reported in July 2026.

Thierry Minko, the minister of economy, finance, debt and state holdings, wants Libreville to set the terms. Any deal will be above all Gabon’s own programme, designed by Gabonese people, he said in French.

He was speaking in an interview published by the news site Gabon Media Time in February 2026. The Fund itself is a small creditor here.

Gabon owed it about 247 billion CFA francs (about US$435 million) at the end of August 2026. That figure has been falling, and payments due during 2027 come to roughly US$144 million.

Who feels the squeeze

Bondholders and other creditors collect the rising interest. Gabonese ministries are left with less room for anything new.

Public investment is the clearest casualty in the 2027 plan. The state payroll, at 963.9 billion CFA francs (about US$1.70 billion), is not being cut.

President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema leads the government behind the plan. He took power in a coup in August 2023 and was elected in April 2025 with 90.35 percent of the vote.

He was sworn in on 3 May 2025 for a seven-year term, ending a 19-month transition. His ministers must now fund their promises while the interest bill climbs.

What happens next

The bill now goes to Gabon’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. Its budget session opened on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and runs into December.

The Assembly’s finance committee has just finished two days of training for the task. L’Union, a daily newspaper in Libreville, reported that on 22 September 2026.

Members can still change the numbers before a final vote. The direction of the debt line, though, was set by borrowing already done.

Investors will watch the terms of any new Eurobond. They will also watch whether a programme with the Fund is agreed before the year ends.

Other African governments are turning to global capital markets as traditional revenues fall short. That wider pattern is explored in Africa: The New Scramble.

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