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.[1]

Africa

Country	Date	Type, causes, consequences, and references
Algeria	1991
Angola	1976	[2]
Angola	1985
Angola	1992–2002	[2]
Cameroon	2004	[2]
Central African Republic	1981
Central African Republic	1983
Côte d'Ivoire	1983
Côte d'Ivoire	2000
Côte d'Ivoire	2011
Egypt	1876	The crisis will cause the ʻUrabi revolt and the subsequent British invasion of Egypt.
Egypt	1984
Gabon	1999–2005	[2]
Ghana	1979
Ghana	1982	[2]
Ghana	2022	[3]
Liberia	1989–2006	[2]
Kenya	1994
Kenya	2000
Madagascar	2002	[2]
Morocco	1983
Morocco	1994
Morocco	2000
Mozambique	1980	[2]
Nigeria	1982
Nigeria	1986
Nigeria	1992
Nigeria	2001
Nigeria	2004
Rhodesia	1965
Rwanda	1995	[2]
Sierra Leone	1997–98	[2]
South Africa	1985
South Africa	1989
South Africa	1993
Sudan	1991	[2]
Tunisia	1867
Tunisia	1986	[4]
Zaire	1979	[2]
Zambia	1983
Zambia	2020	Default due to high debt levels following pandemic and commodity price drops. Followed by IMF bailout, 2022. [5]
Zimbabwe	2000
Zimbabwe	2006	See Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe[2]

Asia

Country	Date	Type, causes, consequences, and references
China	1921	[2]
China	1932	[2]
China	1939	[2]
Indonesia	1966
Iran	1990
Iran	1992
Japan	1942
Japan	1946–52	Due to an over-issued national bond amounting to more than twice as GDP, bank accounts were blocked (bank blockade) [2]
Jordan	1989
Kuwait	1990–91	[2]
Lebanon	2020	Lebanon defaulted on US$1.2 billion in Eurobonds.[6]
Myanmar	1984	[2]
Myanmar	1987	[2]
Myanmar	2002
Mongolia	1997–2000	[2]
North Korea	1975–1990	[7]
Ottoman Empire	1876
Ottoman Empire	1915
The Philippines	1983
Sri Lanka	2022	2019–present Sri Lankan economic crisis[8][9]
Thailand	1997–2007	1997 Asian financial crisis.
Turkey	1931
Turkey	1940
Turkey	1978
Turkey	1982
Vietnam	1975	[2]

Europe

Country	Date	Type, causes, consequences, and references
Albania	1990
Archduchy of Austria	1796
Archduchy of Austria	1802
Austrian Empire	1811	[10]
Austrian Empire	1816	Caused by the War of the Sixth Coalition. Ended by the establishment of Austria's central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank.[10]
Austria-Hungary	1868
Austria	1945	[2]
Bulgaria	1932
Bulgaria	1990
Croatia	1993–96	[2]
Denmark	1813	Danish state bankruptcy of 1813.[2]
Kingdom of France	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.[11]
France	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.[12]
Germany	1812	State spending during the Napoleonic Wars was extremely high due in large manner to the high level of military expenditures.
Germany	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 UK and France agreed to a suspension of payments. The US Congress rejected it, but payments ceased until the implementation of the London Agreement on German External Debts in 1953.
Germany	1939
Germany	1948	See London Agreement on German External Debts[2]
Germany - Hesse	1814
Germany - Prussia	1807
Germany - Prussia	1813
Germany - Schleswig-Holstein	1850
Germany - Westphalia	1812
Greece	1843
Greece	1860
Greece	1893
Greece	1932
Greece	2012	[13]
Greece	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[14][15]).
Hungary	1932
Hungary	1941
Poland	1936
Poland	1981
Netherlands	1814	Instability resulting from the rule of Napoleon I in France
Portugal	1828
Portugal	1837
Portugal	1841
Portugal	1845
Portugal	1852
Portugal	1890
Portugal	2011
Romania	1933
Russia	1839
Russia	1885
Russia	1918	Repudiation of Tsarist debts by Bolshevik revolutionaries.[16]
Russia	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.
Russia	2022	2022 Russian debt default[17]
Soviet Union	1947	[2]
Soviet Union	1957	[2]
Spain	1557	[18]
Spain	1575	[18]
Spain	1596	[18]
Spain	1607	[18]
Spain	1627	[18]
Spain	1647	[18]
Spain	1652	[18]
Spain	1662	[18]
Spain	1666	[18]
Spain	1809
Spain	1820
Spain	1831
Spain	1834
Spain	1851
Spain	1867
Spain	1872
Spain	1882
Spain	1936–39	[2]
Sweden	1812	Military expenditures as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars.
Ukraine	1998–2000	[2]
Yugoslavia	1983	Avoided default through a multinational emergency loan.

North America

Country	Date	Type, causes, consequences, and references
Antigua and Barbuda	1998–2005	[2]
Barbados	2018	Defaulted on its Eurobonds after the uncovering of its high sovereign debt in terms of debt-to-GDP ratio.[19]
Costa Rica	1828
Costa Rica	1874
Costa Rica	1895
Costa Rica	1901
Costa Rica	1932
Costa Rica	1962
Costa Rica	1981	Latin American debt crisis
Costa Rica	1983	Latin American debt crisis
Costa Rica	1984	Latin American debt crisis
Dominica	2003–05	[2]
Dominican Republic	1872
Dominican Republic	1892
Dominican Republic	1897
Dominican Republic	1899
Dominican Republic	1931
Dominican Republic	1975–2001	Latin American debt crisis[2]
Dominican Republic	2005
El Salvador	1828
El Salvador	1876
El Salvador	1894
El Salvador	1899
El Salvador	1921
El Salvador	1932
El Salvador	1938
El Salvador	1981–96	[2]
Grenada	2004–05	[2]
Guatemala	1933
Guatemala	1986
Guatemala	1989	Latin American debt crisis
Guyana	1982
Honduras	1828
Honduras	1873
Honduras	1981	Latin American debt crisis
Jamaica	1978
Mexico	1827
Mexico	1833
Mexico	1844
Mexico	1850	[2]
Mexico	1866
Mexico	1898
Mexico	1914
Mexico	1928–30s
Mexico	1982	Latin American debt crisis
Nicaragua	1828
Nicaragua	1894
Nicaragua	1911
Nicaragua	1915
Nicaragua	1932
Nicaragua	1979
Panama	1932
Panama	1983	Latin American debt crisis
Panama	1987	Latin American debt crisis
Panama	1988–89	[2]
Trinidad and Tobago	1989
United States	1790	Crisis began in 1782. Ended by the Compromise of 1790 and the Funding Act of 1790.[20][21]
United States	1933	Suspension of federal payments in gold amid a bank crisis and international run on gold reserves[22][2]
United States	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.
United States	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
United States	2011	2011 United States debt-ceiling crisis
United States	2013	2013 United States debt-ceiling crisis
United States	2023	2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis

South America

Country	Date	Type, causes, consequences, and references
Argentina	1827	Default.[23]
Argentina	1890	Baring crisis[23]
Argentina	1982	Latin American debt crisis[23]
Argentina	1988–89	Latin American debt crisis[23]
Argentina	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.[23]
Argentina	2005–16	Argentine debt restructuring.
Argentina	2014	[24][25]
Argentina	2020	[26]
Bolivia	1875
Bolivia	1927	[2]
Bolivia	1931
Bolivia	1980	Latin American debt crisis
Bolivia	1986	Latin American debt crisis
Bolivia	1989	Latin American debt crisis
Brazil	1898
Brazil	1902
Brazil	1914
Brazil	1931
Brazil	1937
Brazil	1961
Brazil	1964
Brazil	1983	Latin American debt crisis
Brazil	1986–87	[2]
Brazil	1990	[2]
Chile	1826
Chile	1880
Chile	1931
Chile	1961
Chile	1963
Chile	1966
Chile	1972
Chile	1974
Chile	1983	Latin American debt crisis
Colombia	1826
Colombia	1850
Colombia	1873
Colombia	1880
Colombia	1900
Colombia	1932
Colombia	1935
Ecuador	1826
Ecuador	1868
Ecuador	1894
Ecuador	1906
Ecuador	1909
Ecuador	1914
Ecuador	1929
Ecuador	1982
Ecuador	1984
Ecuador	2000
Ecuador	2008
Ecuador	2020	[27][28]
Paraguay	1874	The payment of loans taken in the English market between 1871-72 was stopped due to bad economic conditions[29]
Paraguay	1892
Paraguay	1920	The payment of foreign loans was once again suspended due to adverse economic and political conditions[30]
Paraguay	1932
Paraguay	1986	Latin American debt crisis
Paraguay	2003
Peru	1826
Peru	1850	[2]
Peru	1876
Peru	1931
Peru	1969
Peru	1976
Peru	1978
Peru	1980	Latin American debt crisis
Peru	1984	Latin American debt crisis
Suriname	2001–02	[2]
Uruguay	1876
Uruguay	1891
Uruguay	1915
Uruguay	1933
Uruguay	1937	[2]
Uruguay	1983	Latin American debt crisis
Uruguay	1987	Latin American debt crisis
Uruguay	1990
Venezuela	1826
Venezuela	1848
Venezuela	1860
Venezuela	1865
Venezuela	1892
Venezuela	1898
Venezuela	1982	Latin American debt crisis
Venezuela	1990
Venezuela	1995–97	[2]
Venezuela	1998	[2]
Venezuela	2004
Venezuela	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.[31]

Oceania

Country	Date	Type, causes, consequences, and references
Australia	1931	Australia defaulted on its entire stock of domestic debt owed to bond and note holders. See Great Depression in Australia
Solomon Islands	1995–2004	[2]

References

Reinhart, Carmen M.; Rogoff, Kenneth S. (2009). This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. Princeton University Press. pp. 23, 87, 91, 95, 96. ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6.
Reinhart, Carmen M.; Rogoff, Kenneth S. (2011). "The Forgotten History of Domestic Debt" (PDF). Economic Journal. 121 (552): 319–350 [pp. 343ff]. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2011.02426.x. JSTOR 41236982. S2CID 154398807.
Akorlie, Christian; Inveen, Cooper (20 December 2022). "Ghana to default on most external debt as economic crisis worsens". Reuters. Reuters.
MZ Bechri. "The Political Economy of Development Policy in Tunisia" (PDF). The University of Tunisia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
"Zambia to default on foreign debt, finance minister says". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
Azhari, Timour. "Lebanon will default on its debt for the first time ever". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
Marcus, Noland (2000). Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas. p. 95.
"Sri Lanka Announces Defaulting On All Its External Debt". NDTV.
"Sri Lanka economic crisis live updates: Sri Lanka defaults on entire $51 billion external debt". Times of India.
Kann, Robert A. (1980). A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918. Campus of the University of California: University of California Press (published November 26, 1980). p. 241. ISBN 0520042069.
Duncan, Mike (7 September 2014). "3.8 The Day of the Tiles". Revolutions (Podcast). Retrieved 2 May 2022.
Duncan, Mike (16 August 2015). "3.47 The Directorial Terror". Revolutions (Podcast). Retrieved 16 May 2022.
Zettelmeyer, Jeromin; Trebesch, Christoph; Gulati, Mitu (July 2013). The Greek Debt Restructuring - An Autopsy.
"IMF: Greece makes overdue payments, no longer in default". eKathimerini. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
"IMF: Greece makes overdue payments, no longer in default". EUBusiness. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
Kim Oosterlinck. Hope Springs Eternal: French Bondholders and the Repudiation of Russian Sovereign debt Yale University Press. 2016
Силуанов: Запад заморозил примерно половину золотовалютных резервов России. Business Gazetta (in Russian). 2022-03-13.
Fernández-Renau Atienza, Daniel; Howden, David (21 January 2016), Three Centuries of Boom-Bust in Spain, Mises Institute
"Barbados announced a technical default on coupon of Eurobonds with maturity in 2035". www.cbonds.com. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
Chamberlain, John S. (2011-07-14). "A Short History of US Credit Defaults". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
Kratz, Jessie (2015-05-31). "The Compromise of 1790". Pieces of History. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
Edwards, Sebastian (2018). American Default.
Boggiano, Miguel Ángel. "Historia del Default en Argentina". Carta Financiera. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
Russo, Camila (2014-07-31). "Argentina Declared in Default by S&P as Talks Fail". Bloomberg.
D&Apos, Andres (2014-07-31). "Argentina defaults on international debt, blames U.S". Los Angeles Times.
"Argentina strikes deal with major creditors to restructure $65 billion in debt". CNN. 2020-08-04.
Vizcaino, Maria (2 August 2021). "Ecuador Defaulted Last Year. Now Its Bonds Are World's Bes". Bloomberg.
Rapoza, Kenneth (Apr 21, 2020). "The Pandemic Blues: Ecuador Second Latin American Nation To Default In 4 Weeks". Forbes.
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
Ashwell, Washington (1989). Historia Económica del Paraguay. p. 357-382.
"Venezuela Defaults, What Now?". Forbes. 2017-11-14.

Financial crises
See also: Banking panic Commodity price shocks Credit crunch Credit cycle Currency crisis Debt crisis Energy crisis Financial contagion Flash crash Hyperinflation Liquidity crisis Minsky moment Social crisis Stock market crash
Pre-1000	Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 CE)
Commercial Revolution (1000–1760)	Great Bullion Famine (c. 1400–c. 1500) The Great Debasement (1544–1551) Dutch Republic stock market crashes (c. 1600–1760) Kipper und Wipper (1621–1623) Tulip mania crash (1637) South Sea bubble crash (1720) Mississippi bubble crash (1720)
Industrial Revolution (1760–1840)	Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 Bengal bubble crash (1769–1784) British credit crisis of 1772-1773 Dutch Republic financial collapse (c. 1780–1795) Panic of 1785 Copper Panic of 1789 Panic of 1792 Panic of 1796–1797 Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 Post-Napoleonic Irish grain price and land use shocks (1815–1816) Panic of 1819 Panic of 1825 Panic of 1837
1840–1870	European Potato Failure (1845–1856) Great Irish Famine Highland Potato Famine Panic of 1847 Panic of 1857 Panic of 1866 Black Friday (1869)
Second Industrial Revolution (1870–1914)	Panic of 1873 Paris Bourse crash of 1882 Panic of 1884 Arendal crash (1886) Baring crisis (1890) Encilhamento (1890–1893) Panic of 1893 Australian banking crisis of 1893 Black Monday (1894) Panic of 1896 Panic of 1901 Panic of 1907 Shanghai rubber stock market crisis (1910) Panic of 1910–1911 Financial crisis of 1914
Interwar period (1918–1939)	Early Soviet hyperinflation (1917–1924) Weimar Republic hyperinflation (1921–1923) Shōwa financial crisis (1927) Wall Street Crash of 1929 Great Depression (1929–1939) Panic of 1930
Post–WWII expansion (1940–1972)	Kennedy Slide of 1962 1963-1965 Indonesian hyperinflation
Great Inflation (1973–1982)	1970s energy crisis (1973–1980) 1973 oil crisis 1973–1974 stock market crash Secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 Steel crisis (1973–1982) Latin American debt crisis (1975–1982) 1976 British currency crisis 1979 oil crisis Brazilian hyperinflation (1980–1982)
Great Moderation (1982–2007)	Brazilian hyperinflation (1982–1994) Souk Al-Manakh stock market crash (1982) Chilean crisis of 1982 1983 Israel bank stock crisis Black Saturday (1983) Savings and loan crisis (1986–1995) Black Monday (1987) Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1988-1991) 1988–1992 Norwegian banking crisis Japanese asset price bubble crash (1990–1992) Rhode Island banking crisis (1990–1992) 1991 Indian economic crisis 1990s Swedish financial crisis 1990s Finnish banking crisis 1990s Armenian energy crisis Cuban Special Period (1991–2000) Black Wednesday (1992 Sterling crisis) Yugoslav hyperinflation (1992–1994) 1994 bond market crisis Venezuelan banking crisis of 1994 Mexican peso crisis (1994–1996) 1997 Asian financial crisis 1998 Russian financial crisis 1998–1999 Ecuador economic crisis 1998–2002 Argentine great depression Samba effect (1999) Dot-com bubble crash (2000–2004) 2001 Turkish economic crisis South American economic crisis of 2002 2002 Uruguay banking crisis 2003 Myanmar banking crisis 2004 Argentine energy crisis 2007 Chinese stock bubble crash Zimbabwean hyperinflation (2007–present)
Great Recession (2007–2013)	2007–2008 financial crisis Subprime mortgage crisis U.S. bear market of 2007–2009 Global financial crisis in September 2008 Global financial crisis in October 2008 Global financial crisis in November 2008 Global financial crisis in December 2008 2008 Latvian financial crisis 2008–2009 Belgian financial crisis 2008–2009 Russian financial crisis 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis 2008–2011 Irish banking crisis 2008–2014 Spanish financial crisis Global financial crisis in 2009 Blue Monday Crash 2009 European debt crisis Greek government-debt crisis 2009 Dubai debt standstill Venezuelan banking crisis of 2009–2010 2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis Energy crisis in Venezuela (2010–present) Syrian economic crisis (2011–present) August 2011 stock markets fall 2011 Bangladesh share market scam 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis 2013 Chinese banking liquidity crisis
Digital Revolution (2013–present)	Venezuela economic crisis (2013–present) 2014–2016 Brazilian economic crisis Puerto Rican government-debt crisis (2014–2022) Russian financial crisis (2014–2016) 2015 Nepal blockade 2015–2016 Chinese stock market turbulence 2015–2016 stock market selloff Brexit stock market crash (2016) Venezuelan hyperinflation (2016–present) 2017 Sri Lankan fuel crisis Ghana banking crisis (2017–2018) 2018–2023 Turkish currency and debt crisis Lebanese liquidity crisis (2019–present) 2019–present Sri Lankan economic crisis COVID-19 pandemic Financial market impact 2020 stock market crash Recession 2020–2023 Chinese property sector crisis 2021–2023 inflation surge 2022 Russian financial crisis 2022 stock market decline 2023 United States banking crisis
List of banking crises List of economic crises List of sovereign debt crises List of stock market crashes and bear markets