Sub-Saharan Africa Compared by Economy > External debt > Terms > Average maturity on new external debt commitments > Official > Years

DEFINITION: Maturity is the number of years to original maturity date, which is the sum of grace and repayment periods. Grace period for principal is the period from the date of signature of the loan or the issue of the financial instrument to the first repayment of principal. The repayment period is the period from the first to last repayment of principal. To obtain the average, the maturity for all public and publicly guaranteed loans have been weighted by the amounts of the loans. Debt from official creditors includes loans from international organisations (multilateral loans) and loans from governments (bilateral loans). Loans from international organisation include loans and credits from the World Bank, regional development banks, and other multilateral and intergovernmental agencies. Excluded are loans from funds administered by an international organisation on behalf of a single donor government; these are classified as loans from governments. Government loans include loans from governments and their agencies (including central banks), loans from autonomous bodies, and direct loans from official export credit agencies.".