Nigeria’s external debt stock rose to $145.02 billion at the end of 2025, a 6.6 per cent increase from the previous year, according to the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026.
The figure marks an increase of about $61.8 billion from the $83.21 billion recorded in 2015, the report released on Thursday showed.
Nigeria’s total external debt of $145.015 billion comprised $62.4 billion in public and publicly guaranteed debt, $54.476 billion in private nonguaranteed debt and $28.139 billion in short-term obligations.
The World Bank noted that while Nigeria’s external debt-to-exports ratio stood at 212 per cent and its external debt-to-gross national income ratio at 51 per cent, the cost of servicing the debt increased.
The debt-service-to-exports ratio rose by 9.6 per cent to 19 per cent, while debt service as a share of gross national income increased by 6.9 per cent to five per cent.
Debt-service payments among low- and middle-income countries reached $1.4 trillion in 2025, the fifth consecutive year of increases, the bank said.
In the report’s foreword, World Bank Chief Statistician Haishan Fu described a “troubling paradox” in which developing economies were securing more international financing but paying increasingly high costs.
“Low- and middle-income countries are borrowing more, paying more, and, in many cases, leaving less for long-term development,” Fu said.
“The objective should, therefore, not be more debt. It should be better financing that is affordable, transparent, sustainable, and capable of supporting investment and growth,” he added.
Nigeria returned to the international bond market in 2025, raising $2.3 billion through a dual-tranche sovereign bond issuance. This comprised a 10-year bond at 8.625 per cent interest and a 20-year bond at 9.125 per cent.
The report put Nigeria’s average interest rate on new official external debt commitments at 1.9 per cent, compared with 9.6 per cent for private creditors.
