Out of the $1.8 billion Nigeria spent on debt servicing in the fourth quarter of 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) received the lion’s share of $407.97 million.

This, according to the Debt Management Office, is the highest payment to a multilateral creditor.

Other multilateral institutions including the International Development Association (IDA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), received $116.48 million, $43.89 million, $14.48 million and $5.83 million respectively.

The country also paid out a total of $430.53 million to commercial creditors during the period with syndicated loans accounting for $280.16 million, Eurobond debt, $148.57 million, UniCredit S.P.A, $1.54 million, Standard Chartered Bank $144,000, and Deutsche Bank AG, $108,000.

To bilateral creditors, Nigeria spent $46.85 million servicing their debts during the period. A breakdown of the figures shows that France’s Agence Française de Développement (AFD), received $33.13 million, Germany (KfW), got $11.84 million, and China Development Bank got $1.88 million.

Last week, the DMO published that Nigeria’s external debt increased by 83.89 per cent from N38.22 trillion ($42.50 billion) in December 2023 to N70.29 trillion ($45.78 billion) in December 2024.
Under the present administration, the government has been able to reduce Nigeria’s revenue-to-debt service ratio from 97 per cent to 65 per cent.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on external sector payments also shows that Nigeria’s total debt service payments dropped significantly from $540 million in January 2025 to $276 million in February 2025.

This decline comes amid ongoing efforts by the federal government to restructure its debt portfolio, improve dollar liquidity, and ease pressure on the foreign exchange market.