List of sovereign debt crises

The list of sovereign debt crises involves the inability of independent countries to meet its liabilities, as they become due. These include: a sovereign default, where a government suspends debt repayments; a debt restructuring plan, where the government agrees with other countries, or unilaterally reduces its debt repayments; requiring assistance from the International Monetary Fund or another international source.

Debts could be owed either to private parties within a country, to foreign investors, or to other countries.

The following table includes actual sovereign defaults and debt restructuring of independent countries since 1557.

Africa CountryDateType, causes, consequences and references 1976 1992–2002 2004 Egypt 1876 The crisis caused the Urabi revolt and the subsequent British invasion of Egypt in 1882. 1999–2005 1982 2022 1989–2006 2002 1980 1995 1997–98 1991 1986 1979 2020Default due to high debt levels, following the COVID-19 pandemic and commodity price drops. Followed by the IMF bailout, in 2022. 2006 See Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe

Asia CountryDateType, causes, consequences and references 1921 1932 1939 1966 1946–52 Due to an over-issued national bond amounting to more than twice as GDP, bank accounts were blocked. () 1990–91 2020 Lebanon defaulted on US$1.2 billion in Eurobonds. 1984 1987 1997–2000 1975–1990 2022 Sri Lankan economic crisis (2019–2024) 1997–2007 1997 Asian financial crisis 1975

Europe CountryDateType, causes, consequences and references 1811 1816 Caused by the War of the Sixth Coalition. Ended by the establishment of Austria's central bank: Oesterreichische Nationalbank. 1945 1993–96 2012-2013 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis 1813 Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 1788 On 17 August 1788, the royal treasury began paying creditors in IOUs rather than money, after service on debt (mainly from the Seven Years' War and American War of Independence) had depleted the royal treasury to just 400,000 livres (one day's worth of state expenses). To restore state credit, the royal ministry called the Estates General of 1789 to make structural reforms to state revenue. 1797 Deflation, after the withdrawal of the assignat and mandat territorial led Finance Minister Dominique-Vincent Ramel-Nogaret to repudiate of 2/3 of French state debt. 1812 State spending during the Napoleonic Wars was extremely high, due, in large manner, to the high level of military expenditures. 1932 Under the Versailles Treaty ending the First World War, Germany was forced to make war reparations. The Young Plan of 1929 was meant to settle the structure, but in the Great Depression repayments became impossible. In the Lausanne Conference of 1932, the U.K. and France agreed to a suspension of payments. The U.S. Congress rejected it, but payments ceased, until the implementation of the London Agreement on German External Debts in 1953. 1948 See London Agreement on German External Debts 2012 2015 Due to the Greek government-debt crisis, Greece failed to make a €1.6 billion payment to the IMF on time (payment was made with a 20-day delay). 1918 Repudiation of Tsarist debts by Bolshevik revolutionaries.Kim Oosterlinck. Hope Springs Eternal: French Bondholders and the Repudiation of Russian Sovereign debt Yale University Press. 2016 1998 After world commodity prices dropped on major Russian exports (particularly metals and oil), the 1998 Russian financial crisis ensued. Mounting debts led to the government declaring a moratorium on payments to international creditors. 2022 2022 Russian debt default 1936–39 1812 Military expenditures as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars. 1998–2000 1983 Avoided default through a multinational emergency loan.

North America CountryDateType, causes, consequences and references 1998–2005 2018 Defaulted on its Eurobonds, after the uncovering of its high sovereign debt in terms of debt-to-GDP ratio. 2003–05 1975–2001 Latin American debt crisis 1981–96 2004–05 1850 1982 Latin American debt crisis 1988–89 1790 Crisis began in 1782. Ended by the Compromise of 1790 and the Funding Act of 1790. 1814 Late interest payments, due to the War of 1812 1875 US devalued the USD (Specie Payment Resumption Act) 1865 The Confederate States of America lost the American civil war and ceased to exist, thus defaulting on their debts. The United States passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1868, which prohibited assumption of the debts. 1933 Suspension of federal payments in gold, amid a bank crisis and international run on gold reserves. 1953 Congress refuses to raise the United States debt ceiling, forcing the federal government to reduce spending, monetize gold and use cash balances with banks, until the ceiling was eventually raised. 1995-96 Congress fails to reach agreement with President Clinton on the budget, resulting in the United States federal government shutdowns of 1995–1996; Republicans also threaten not to raise the debt ceiling. 2011 2011 U.S. debt-ceiling crisis 2013 2013 U.S. debt-ceiling crisis 2023 2023 U.S. debt-ceiling crisis

South America CountryDateType, causes, consequences and references 1827 Default 1890 Baring crisis 1982 Latin American debt crisis 1988–89 2001 Following years of instability, the Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002) came to a head and a new government announced it could not meet its public debt obligations. 2005–16 Argentine debt restructuring. 2014 2020 1927 1986–87 1990 2020 1874 The payment of loans taken in the English market between 1871-72 was stopped, due to bad economic conditions.Prado, Mario L. F. (2022), O Processo de Recuperação Econômica do Paraguai após a Guerra da Tríplice Aliança (1870-1890), University of São Paulo, São Paulo, p. 86 1920 The payment of foreign loans was once again suspended, due to adverse economic and political conditions. 1850 2001–02 2020 1937 1995–97 1998 2017 Venezuela defaulted on US$65 billion in external debt in November 2017, after years of unsustainable borrowing and a crash in global oil prices.

Oceania CountryDateType, causes, consequences and references 1931 Australia defaulted on its entire stock of domestic debt owed to bond and note holders. See: Great Depression in Australia. 1995–2004 Default on domestic debt, not external debt.

List of sovereign debt crises

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