Nigeria’s Foreign Debt Rises to $145bn, Interest Costs Jump – Report
UPDATED: Nigeria’s external or foreign debt increased to $145.015 billion in 2025, representing a 6.6 per cent rise from the previous year, according to the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026
The report showed an increase of $61.8 billion from the $83.213 billion recorded in 2015, reflecting a 74.3 per cent rise in the country’s external debt over the decade.
The World Bank data also showed that public and publicly guaranteed debt accounted for $62.4 billion of the total, while private nonguaranteed debt stood at $54.476 billion and short-term external debt at $28.139 billion.
A breakdown of Nigeria’s public and publicly guaranteed external debt shows that multilateral creditors accounted for the largest share at $31.365 billion, followed by private creditors with $24.352 billion and bilateral creditors with $6.683 billion.
The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) accounted for $18.533 billion of the multilateral debt, while IMF Special Drawing Rights allocations stood at $5.516 billion.
China was Nigeria’s largest bilateral creditor, with $5.672 billion, followed by France with $774 million and other bilateral creditors with $237 million.
Despite the increase in the debt stock, Nigeria recorded improvements in two key debt indicators, with external debt relative to exports declining by 4.3 per cent to 212 per cent, while the debt-to-Gross National Income ratio fell by 6.6 per cent to 51 per cent.
However, the country’s debt servicing burden increased, with external debt service relative to exports rising by 9.6 per cent to 19 per cent. Debt service as a proportion of Gross National Income also increased by 6.9 per cent to five per cent.
The World Bank said debt-service payments among low- and middle-income countries reached $1.4tn in 2025, marking the fifth consecutive year of increases. Payments rose by 1.9 per cent, driven largely by obligations to private creditors, particularly international bondholders.
Between 2022 and 2025, the countries covered by the report paid approximately $436.1bn more in debt servicing than they received in new financing. However, the trend reversed in 2025, when long-term debt flows recorded a net inflow of $45.4bn, compared with a net outflow of $118.4bn in 2024.
The data also showed a significant difference in borrowing costs between official and private creditors.
New commitments from official creditors in 2025 carried an average interest rate of 1.9 per cent, with a maturity of 25 years and a five-year grace period. In comparison, private creditors charged an average interest rate of 9.6 per cent, with a 12-year maturity and an eight-year grace period.
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