National Debt (% of GDP): Barbados

Analysis# Barbados National Debt (% of GDP) Barbados's national debt stands at 94.6% of GDP in 2026, marking a substantial decline from its catastrophic peak of 142.8% in 2017. The Caribbean nation's debt burden has grown 74.2 percentage points since 1994, when it began at 20.4%, though the all-time low of 49.7% in 1999 demonstrates the country's capacity for fiscal improvement. The current figure reflects ongoing deleveraging efforts after years of unsustainable accumulation. The 2017 peak represented a critical juncture, followed by a sharp contraction to 114.2% by 2018. A temporary spike to 138.2% occurred in 2020 due to pandemic-related spending, but subsequent years show consistent recovery, with the debt-to-GDP ratio declining nearly every year since 2021. At the projected rate of decline, Barbados is on track to further reduce its debt burden approaching 90% by 2026, suggesting stabilization efforts are gaining traction.