World Bank: Nigeria's external debt grows 6.6%, now at $145bn

Nigeria's external debt pile climbed to $145.015 billion in 2025, a 6.6 per cent jump from the year before, according to the World Bank's International Debt Report 2026. The headline number tells only part of the story: more than half of it isn't government borrowing at all. Private non-guaranteed debt hit $54.476 billion and short-term obligations added another $28.139 billion. Public and publicly guaranteed debt sat at $62.4 billion.

Zoom out a decade and the climb looks steeper. Nigeria's external debt stood at $83.21 billion in 2015, meaning it has grown 74.3 per cent in ten years. The report also flags just how exposed the country is relative to what it earns: external debt equalled 212 per cent of exports and 51 per cent of Gross National Income in 2025. Servicing that debt swallowed 19 per cent of exports and five per cent of GNI.

Inside the $62.4 billion the government has guaranteed, multilateral lenders hold $31.365 billion, private creditors $24.352 billion and bilateral creditors $6.683 billion. The World Bank's own IDA arm accounts for $18.533 billion of the multilateral slice, while IMF credit and Special Drawing Rights make up $5.516 billion. China remains Nigeria's biggest single bilateral creditor at $5.672 billion, with France far behind at $774 million and other bilateral creditors at $237 million.

The terms on new money diverge sharply depending on who's lending. Official creditors lent to Nigeria at an average maturity of 25 years with a five-year grace period and a 1.9 per cent interest rate. Private creditors demanded shorter windows and fatter coupons: 12-year average maturity, an eight-year grace period and a 9.6 per cent rate.

Nigeria also went back to international capital markets. As Sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest issuer, it raised $2.3 billion through a dual-tranche bond in 2025 — a 10-year tranche at 8.625 per cent and a 20-year tranche at 9.125 per cent. The report adds that Nigeria struck a $5 billion Total Return Swap in 2026 with a three-year maturity, collateralised at roughly 133 per cent, or about $6.7 billion in domestic securities.

The pressure isn't Nigeria's alone. External debt across low- and middle-income countries rose 5.5 per cent to a record $9.4 trillion in 2025, the biggest annual increase in four years. World Bank Group chief statistician Haishan Fu said the total debt-service burden for those countries has now risen for a fifth straight year, squeezing money that would otherwise go to infrastructure, jobs, education and healthcare. Access to finance isn't enough, she warned — countries and creditors need to know how much is owed, to whom, and on what terms.