Mali Is The First African Country To Be Debt-Free?

On July 8, 2025, an X user @Biafra_First Son made a claim that Mali has become the first African country to be debt-free. The post had a picture of the Mali’s Head of State, General Assimi Goïta with the caption “Mali 🇲🇱 shocked the World for becoming the 1st African debt free nation, paying off over 300 million dollars in debt. Your thoughts on this”.

VERIFICATION 

On October 20, 2024, Mali’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Alousseni Sanou, announced that the country planned to pay 200 billion CFA francs (approximately 332 million dollars) to clear part of its domestic debt obligations by the end of the year. This announcement was made during a press briefing and was widely covered in regional media.

Source: IMF

According to the International Monetary Fund, IMF’s official records, Mali’s total credit outstanding stood at 403,827,600 Dollars, as of July 10, 2025. This figure reflects the cumulative balance of loans Mali has received under various IMF programs such as the Extended Credit Facility, ECF and the Rapid Credit Facility, RCF. These loans are still being serviced and are not yet fully repaid.

On April 16, 2025, the IMF’s Executive Board approved a 129 million Dollars disbursement under the RCF. This emergency loan supports Mali’s response to floods and fragile economic conditions.

A report from Ecofin Agency also states that Mali’s unpaid domestic arrears had reached 363 billion CFA francs (615 million Dollars) by the end of 2024. These arrears represented 2.6 percent of its GDP at the time and over 80 percent were owed to private businesses.

Despite Mali’s plan to clear its domestic debt, it remains the same, neither has its outstanding credit been serviced in a long while and the country continues to borrow from the IMF. This confirms that the country is not debt-free.

CONCLUSION 

The claim that Mali has become the first African country to be debt-free after paying over 300 million Dollars is FALSE. As of June 30, 2025, Mali still owes over 403 million Dollars to the IMF and continues to receive new loans from the Bretton Woods institution while its domestic debt remains unpaid.