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Daud Olatunji
Nigeria’s external debt stock has climbed to $145.02bn as of December 2025, representing a 6.6 per cent increase from the previous year, with the World Bank warning that the country and other developing economies are increasingly spending more on debt repayment at the expense of critical development needs.
The latest figure, contained in the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026, indicates that Nigeria’s external debt has increased by approximately $61.8bn over the past decade, rising from $83.21bn in 2015 to $145.02bn in 2025.
The report, released on Thursday, November 5, 2026, provides an assessment of external borrowing among low- and middle-income countries and highlights the growing financial pressure associated with accessing international credit.
According to the report, Nigeria’s total external debt stood at $145.015bn, comprising $62.4bn in public and publicly guaranteed debt, $54.476bn in private nonguaranteed debt and $28.139bn in short-term obligations.
The figures indicate that less than half of the country’s external debt is directly attributable to public and publicly guaranteed borrowing, while private sector obligations without government guarantees and short-term liabilities account for a substantial share.
The World Bank explained that public and publicly guaranteed debt covers obligations owed by government institutions, including the Federal Government and state-owned enterprises, as well as private sector loans backed by government guarantees.
Private nonguaranteed debt, however, refers to external obligations incurred by private borrowers without public guarantees.
Beyond the rising debt stock, the report raised concerns over Nigeria’s debt-servicing burden, noting that some of the country’s external debt indicators deteriorated in 2025.
It put Nigeria’s external debt-to-exports ratio at 212 per cent, while its external debt-to-gross national income ratio stood at 51 per cent.
The country’s debt-service-to-exports ratio was 19 per cent, while debt servicing as a proportion of gross national income stood at five per cent.
Although the debt-to-exports and debt-to-GNI ratios declined by 4.3 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively compared with their 2024 levels, the debt-service-to-exports ratio increased by 9.6 per cent, while debt service relative to GNI rose by 6.9 per cent.
The development suggests that despite some improvement in the relationship between Nigeria’s external debt and its economic output and export earnings, the cost of meeting repayment obligations continued to increase.
The World Bank warned that rising debt-service payments were putting developing economies under considerable pressure, with low- and middle-income countries collectively paying $1.4tn in debt servicing in 2025.
The amount represented a 1.9 per cent increase during the year, driven largely by payments to private creditors, particularly international bondholders.
Between 2022 and 2025, the countries covered by the report paid approximately $436.1bn more in debt servicing than they received in new financing.
