Over 50% of African countries had debt to GDP ratios above 50% in 2019 with at least 48% of countries having debt to GDP ratios above 70%. The rise in debt levels is a recent phenomenon, with most countries’ debt increasing between 2014 and 2019. In this paper, we propose a new approach to debt monitoring. We argue that the speed of debt accumulation matters and that monitoring the speed of debt could alter the path of debt to more sustainable debt levels. We carry out an empirical analysis for all African countries in the 10 years to 2018 and group countries into seven categories based on their speed of growth of debt and their debt levels. We find that there is heterogeneity in country debt acquisition and that ensuing policies to ensure sustainable debt will need to be country specific.

中文翻译：

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非洲国家的债务：以多种速度和阴影加速的故事

2019 年，超过 50% 的非洲国家的债务与 GDP 的比率超过 50%，至少 48% 的国家的债务与 GDP 的比率超过 70%。债务水平上升是最近才出现的现象，大多数国家的债务在 2014 年至 2019 年间都在增加。在本文中，我们提出了一种新的债务监测方法。我们认为，债务积累的速度很重要，监测债务速度可以改变债务走向更可持续的债务水平。我们对截至 2018 年的 10 年间所有非洲国家进行了实证分析，并根据其债务增长速度和债务水平将国家分为七类。我们发现，国家债务收购存在异质性，确保可持续债务的后续政策需要针对具体国家。