Nigeria’s external debt rises to $145bn in 10 years — World Bank

The World Bank has disclosed that Nigeria’s external debt stock stood at $145,015 billion in 2025, representing a 6.6 per cent increase from 2024.

The World Bank said Nigeria’s external debt had grown steadily over the past decade, rising from $83,213 billion in 2015.

The bank disclosed this in its 2026 International Debt Report (IDR) released on Thursday, November 5, 2026

It stated: “Of the total debt stock, 62,400 million dollars was public and publicly guaranteed debt, while private nonguaranteed debt accounted for 54,674 million dollars and short-term debt stood at 28,139 million dollars.

“Multilateral creditors accounted for 31,365 million dollars of public debt, including 18,533 million dollars owed to the World Bank’s IDA.”

The bank said China was Nigeria’s largest bilateral creditor, with $5,672 billion.

The World Bank said Nigeria’s external debt-to-Gross National Income (GNI) ratio stood at 51 per cent, down by 6.6 per cent in 2024, while external debt was equivalent to 212 per cent of exports (goods, services, and primary income).

The World Bank noted that debt service principal and interest paid accounted for 19 per cent of exports in 2025, highlighting the pressure of repayment obligations on foreign exchange earnings.

According to the bank, the cost of new borrowing also varied significantly by creditor.

Developing countries’ external debt hits record $9.4trn — World Bank

In 2025, loans from official creditors carried an average interest rate of 1.9 per cent, compared with 9.6 per cent for private creditors, underscoring the higher cost of accessing commercial financing.

The IDR is an annual World Bank publication providing external debt statistics and analysis for low-and middle-income countries reporting to the institution’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS).

Drawing on data collected through the DRS, the publication tracks borrowing patterns, emerging lending instruments, debt relief initiatives and best practices in debt recording and reporting.

The 2026 edition provides an analysis of external debt stocks and flows as of the end of 2025, examines debt dynamics, and their policy implications, and gives an update on the global debt transparency agenda.