Cabo Verde economy: GDP, investment, trade and remittances
How large the Cabo Verde economy is and how fast it is growing, who invests in it, what it sells and buys, how much its citizens abroad send home, who it owes and what it holds in reserve. The latest published year is shown with each figure.
Cabo Verde economy snapshot: GDP, growth and income per person
Cabo Verde's GDP was US$3.1 billion in 2025, after real growth of 6.3%.
GDP
Current US dollars.
Real GDP growth
Annual change, per cent. Red bars are contractions.
GDP per person
Current US dollars.
Source: World Bank, 2025. Method
Who invests in Cabo Verde and in what
Direct investment by investing country
Portugal was the largest investing country in Cabo Verde, at 25% of inward direct investment positions in 2022.
Inward direct investment positions in Cabo Verde at the end of 2022: the stock of foreign direct investment, not a year's new flow. The 10 largest investing countries.
Source: IMF, 2022. Method
What Cabo Verde sells and buys
Meat and fish preparations was 84% of exports in 2024.
Cabo Verde sold the most to Spain, 70% of exports in 2024.
Exports by product, 2024
Tile area follows value. Each tile is a customs chapter of the Harmonized System; hover for the full name.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2024. Method
Top buyers, 2024
Share of Cabo Verde's exports.
Top suppliers, 2024
Share of Cabo Verde's imports.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2024. Method
What Cabo Verde buys, 2024
The 8 largest product chapters in imports.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2024. Method
Trade balance of goods
Exports minus imports. Red bars are years when imports were larger. A year is left out when either side is not published.
Source: UN Comtrade, 2024. Method
Remittances against foreign direct investment in Cabo Verde
Remittances to Cabo Verde were 2.3 times foreign direct investment in 2025.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Remittances and investment as a share of GDP
The same two flows measured against the size of the economy.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Who Cabo Verde owes
External debt stock by type of creditor. Creditor types cover public and publicly guaranteed debt; the grey part is the rest of the total external debt stock. A creditor type with no published figure is not shown.
Multilateral creditors held 47% of Cabo Verde's external debt stock in 2024.
Public external debt owed to China was US$21 million in 2024, 1% of the external debt stock.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Reserves and months of import cover
Total reserves including gold, and how many months of imports they cover.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
Aid received by Cabo Verde
Net official development assistance and official aid received.
Source: World Bank, 2026. Method
More on Cabo Verde
World Bank data pages for Cabo Verde: GDP, GDP growth, GDP per person, remittances, foreign direct investment, reserves, months of imports, external debt, debt by creditor, aid. UN Comtrade: trade data. IMF: direct investment positions.