This study investigate the E ect of External debt on Private Investment in Sub Sa-rnhara.The objective of the study is to investigate whether the SSA external debt burdenrnhas contributed to weak private investment in the country. For this purpose, two hypothe-rnses need to be tested. First, the debt-service ratio is expected to have a negative e ectrnon private investment. Second, public investment is hypothesized to have positive e ectrnon private investment. The study is carried out using the GMM and FE the time seriesrnpanel data analyzed cover the period 2000 - 2019. Gross private investment (PRI) isrnspeci ed as a function of the debt-service ratio (DSR), gross public investment (PUI),rnExternal debt stock (ED), GDP rate (GDPr), credit to private sector (CPS). The em-rnpirical ndings provided evidence for debt overhang problem of the external debt stockrnaccumulation. However, the empirical analysis reveals that the debt service ratio crowdsrnout private investment as hypothesized. This would mean that the scarce resources avail-rnable in the country are being used to meet the external debt obligations instead of beingrnallocated to productive investment. Moreover, the results con rmed the positive impactsrnof public investment on private investment. The positive impact of public investment onrnprivate investment could also be witness for the absence of crowding out e ect of externalrndebt servicing. The econometric nding with respect to private sector credit also suggestedrnthe positive contribution on the private investment in sub Saharan African countries. Allrnin all, the study concludes that the external debt stock overhang and external debt servicernratio crowds out private investment in Sub Saharan Africa. While the Government rec-rnognizes the private sector to be the key engine of economic growth and poverty reduction,rnpolicy makers should raise productivity of capital and increase the demand for the privaternsector output. To this e ect, it is also suggested that more resources should be allocatedrnto the areas of agriculture and infrastructure. These measures would help to enhancernconditions meant to attract more private investment in the countries.