Nigeria spent about $2.01 billion on external debt repayment between January and April 2025, higher than the $1.33 billion recorded during the same period in 2024.
This is according to the latest international payment data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Debt servicing alone accounted for 77.1 per cent of Nigeria’s total international payments within the four months, a sharp rise from the 64.5 per cent share recorded in the same period of 2024.
In total, the country’s international payments, comprising debt service, remittances, and letters of credit, stood at $2.60 billion as of April 2025, up from $2.07 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves reportedly fell by about $3 billion during the review period.
On a month-to-month basis, Nigeria paid $540.67 million in January 2025 from $560.52 million recorded in January 2024.
In February, the figure stood at $276.73 million, almost unchanged from the $283.22 million paid in February 2024.
However, Nigeria’s debt service, spiked in March to $632.36 million, more than double the $276.17 million paid in the same month last year.
The upward tick continued in April with another $557.79 million repaid a 159 per cent increase from the $215.20 million paid in April 2024.
The country spent nearly $1.2 billion on debt repayments within March and April alone, the data revealed.
The development follows confirmation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria had fully repaid the $3.4 billion financial support it received under the Rapid Financing Instrument to cushion the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The loan is one of the largest disbursements under the Rapid Financing Instrument globally and came with relatively favourable terms compared to traditional IMF programmes.
In a statement on behalf of the IMF Resident Representative for Nigeria, Mr Christian Ebeke, the Fund said the repayment was completed on April 30, 2025.
IMF stated that, “As of April 30, 2025, Nigeria has fully repaid the financial support of about $3.4bn it requested and received in April 2020 from the International Monetary Fund under the Rapid Financing Instrument to help alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp fall in oil prices.”
The loan, disbursed in April 2020, was aimed at helping Nigeria address a sharp fall in oil prices, economic contraction, and fiscal pressures caused by the pandemic.
Despite full repayment of the principal, Nigeria will continue to pay additional annual fees related to Special Drawing Rights charges of about $30 million over the next few years.
The charges are tied to the difference between Nigeria’s SDR holdings, which currently stand at SDR 3,164m ($4.3 billion), and its cumulative SDR allocation of SDR 4,027m ($5.5 billion).
The charges are levied at the SDR interest rate, which is updated weekly, and will continue until Nigeria’s SDR holdings match the cumulative allocation amount, the IMF noted.