Private Sector External Debt Report

Executive summary

– Private sector external debt: It amounted to USD112,991 million as of December 31, 2025, reflecting a quarterly decline of USD4,715 million, driven by repayments of commercial debt totaling USD9,317 million, partially offset by an increase of USD4,602 million in financial debt (see Charts 1 and 2).

– Stock by type of transaction: As of December 31, 2025, imports of goods recorded the largest debt at USD37,163 million, followed by financial loans at USD31,037 million, and debt securities held by non-residents at USD19,664 million. Debt for services ranked fourth at USD13,219 million, followed by debt for exports of goods at USD8,555 million, and “other financial debt” at USD3,351 million by the end of the quarter (see Chart 1).

– Changes by type of transaction: The decline in commercial debt was driven by a reduction in debt for exports of goods amounting to USD6,566 million, followed by repayments of debt for imports of goods totaling USD2,409 million, and debt for services amounting to USD342 million. In turn, the quarterly increase in financial debt was driven by a rise of debt securities of USD3,532 million, followed by financial loans—USD1,120 million—partially offset by a USD50 million reduction in “other financial debt” (see Chart 2).

– External debt for imports of goods: The stock of financing granted by related companies reached USD20,247 million, down USD1,269 million in the quarter. The rest of creditors amounted to USD16,917 million, down USD1,139 million in the quarter. Broken down by sector, the stock of “Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers” reached USD8,109 million (accounting for 22% of the total), with a quarterly drop of USD398 million. That sector was followed by “Wholesale trade and/or wholesale on a fee or contract basis, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles,” with a stock of USD7,677 million (accounting for 21% of the total) and a quarterly fall of USD428 million (see Charts 3 and 4).

– External debt for exports of goods: Debts to related creditors stood at USD3,997 million, marking a quarterly decrease of USD4,146 million. Debt with other creditors totaled USD4,558 million, down USD2,421 million against the previous quarter. The reduction in this type of debt was mainly due to the repayment of advances on agricultural export proceeds in September 2025 within the framework of the temporary reduction of export duties to zero percent (0%) as under Executive Order 682/2025. Broken down by sector, “Manufacture of food products”, major sector exporting oilseeds and grains, reached a stock of USD5,678 million (66% of the total), down USD5,904 million in the quarter, concentrating much of the impact of the aforementioned measure. That sector was followed by “Wholesale trade and/or wholesale on a fee or contract basis, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles,” with debts totaling USD1,095 million (accounting for 13% of the total) and a reduction of USD687 million in the quarter (see Charts 5 and 6).

– External debt for services: As of December 31, 2025, debt for services with related creditors totaled USD9,516 million, while debt with other creditors reached USD3,703 million. The sectors with the highest share were “Computer programming, consultancy and related activities,” accounting for 10% of the total, followed by “Air transport”, representing 8% of the total, and “Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers”, accounting for 7% of the total (see Charts 7 and 8).

– Financial external debt: Debts to related creditors stood at USD23,118 million by the end of the quarter, followed by multiple holders of debt securities at USD19,664 million, and debts to other creditors (banks, official sources and other private sources) at USD11,271 million. Broken down by sector, “Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas” accounted for 36% of the financial external debt, with a stock of USD19,247 million and an increase of USD2,422 million in the quarter. Both “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply” and “Deposit-taking institutions, except the central bank” accounted for 8% of the total, with a stock of USD4,098 million and USD4,072 million, respectively (see Charts 9 and 10).

– Maturity profile of external debt: As of December 31, 2025, companies faced principal maturities within the following year, including past due debts and those without agreed maturity date, totaling USD56,487 million in commercial debt (equivalent to 96% of the total commercial debt as of December 31, 2025) and USD22,298 million in financial debt (equivalent to 41% of the total financial debt as of the same date). It is worth pointing out that the financial debt profile showed longer terms compared to the previous year, with maturities of five years or more gaining share (see Charts 11 and 12).

– Total external debt by debtor’s activity sector and by type of transaction or creditor: Considering the amount of external financing granted to the main economic sectors by type of creditor as of December 31, 2025, “Manufacturing industry” ranked first, with a debt position of USD38,035 million, 62% of which was financed by companies within the same group (USD23,482 million), followed by financing from foreign exporters and other private sources (USD9,895 million). “Mining and quarrying” ranked second, with a debt stock of USD29,177 million, followed by “Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” in the third place, with a debt position of USD13,085 million. These three sectors represented about 71% of the private sector external debt. It should be noted that about 50% of the stock of total external financing was granted by companies belonging to the same group. In the “Manufacturing industry” sector, 57% of the debt corresponded to imports of goods. In the “Mining and quarrying” sector, 47% corresponded to financial loans, while 39% was attributed to debt securities (see Charts 13 and 14).

– Commercial external debt by country: As of December 31, 2025, the United States was the main source of commercial debt, with a stock of USD12,106 million, representing 21% of the total. Brazil ranked second, with USD8,141 million (14% of the total), followed by China, with USD6,481 million (11% of the total) (see Chart 15).

– Financial external debt by country (debt securities excluded): As of December 31, 2025, the United States was the leading source of financial debt, with a stock of USD7,892 million, representing 15% of the total. In second place was the Netherlands, with USD4,661 million (9% of the total), and in third position was China, with USD3,063 million (6% of the total) (see Chart 16).