Nigeria spent approximately $2.01 billion on external debt servicing between January and April 2025, representing a 50 per cent increase from the $1.33 billion recorded during the same period in 2024. This is based on the latest international payments data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which shows that debt servicing accounted for 77.1 per cent of the country’s total international payments in the four-month period—significantly higher than the 64.5 per cent share recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Total international payments, which include debt service, remittances, and letters of credit, stood at $2.60 billion as of April 2025, compared to $2.07 billion in the same period of 2024. These figures highlight the mounting pressure Nigeria’s external debt is placing on its foreign exchange reserves, which reportedly declined by around $3 billion during the review period.
Monthly data shows Nigeria paid $540.67 million in January 2025, slightly down from $560.52 million in January 2024. In February, the figure stood at $276.73 million, marginally lower than the $283.22 million recorded in the same month last year.
A sharp rise occurred in March, when debt service costs surged to $632.36 million—more than double the $276.17 million paid in March 2024. The trend continued in April, with $557.79 million disbursed, marking a 159 per cent increase from the $215.20 million paid in April 2024. Combined, March and April 2025 accounted for nearly $1.2 billion in debt repayments, indicating a heavy schedule of maturing loans during the period.
This uptick aligns with the repayment of a $3.4 billion loan Nigeria received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) in April 2020. The IMF confirmed that Nigeria completed the repayment of this facility on April 30, 2025. The emergency funding was initially secured to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and a crash in oil prices.
According to the IMF’s Resident Representative for Nigeria, the country has fully repaid the support received under the RFI. However, despite settling the principal amount, Nigeria will continue to make annual payments of about $30 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDR)-related charges. These charges, calculated based on the difference between Nigeria’s SDR holdings—currently SDR 3,164 million ($4.3 billion)—and its total SDR allocation of SDR 4,027 million ($5.5 billion), are tied to the SDR interest rate and will persist until parity is achieved.
The $3.4 billion facility was among the largest disbursed globally under the RFI and came with relatively favorable terms compared to standard IMF lending frameworks.
Nigeria’s total external debt service payments for 2024 reached $4.66 billion, up from $3.5 billion in 2023. Multilateral creditors accounted for the majority of this amount, with the IMF alone responsible for roughly 35 per cent of payments.
Projections by Fitch Ratings indicate that Nigeria’s external debt service will rise further to $5.2 billion in 2025. This includes $4.5 billion in amortisation and a $1.1 billion Eurobond repayment scheduled for November 2025. Fitch anticipates that debt servicing will decline to $3.5 billion in 2026.
The agency also flagged a brief delay in the payment of a Eurobond coupon due on March 28, 2025, as a sign of ongoing difficulties in Nigeria’s public finance management.
While Nigeria’s debt servicing obligations remain moderate by global standards, Fitch warned that high interest costs, low revenue collection, and constrained fiscal space present significant challenges. The agency estimates that general government debt will stay around 51 per cent of GDP in both 2025 and 2026.
However, concerns persist over Nigeria’s revenue performance. Government income is expected to average just 13.3 per cent of GDP during 2025–2026, resulting in high interest-to-revenue ratios. For the general government, this ratio is projected to exceed 30 per cent, while the federal government’s ratio is estimated to approach 50 per cent.
