Many studies are available on the relationship between natural resources, economic growth, and sustainable development; however, studies on the influence of debt servicing and its role in sustainable economic growth in poor economies are missing. This study explores the influence of natural resources and debt servicing on the economic growth of highly indebted poor economies between 1988 and 2021, including the role of renewable electricity output. Various time-series approaches were employed, including unit root tests (ADF with and without break years, DF-GLS) and Bayer-Hanck cointegration. The empirical evidence indicates a positive contribution of natural resource rents, like natural gas and coal, to economic growth. Preliminary findings were offered by utilizing FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR, and to ascertain the precision, robustness techniques varied from parametric to nonparametric analyses were employed. Conversely, renewable electricity output reduces long-term economic growth. These outcomes were confirmed by robust regression analysis, structural breaks, simple least squares, and quantile regression. The research provides policy implications for the prudent use of external debts, natural resources, and renewable electricity output for sustainable economic growth. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.