Nigeria’s Private Sector Foreign Debt Rise 179.6% to $54.5bn — World Bank

Nigeria’s non-public corporations noticed their exterior debt surge 179.6 p.c over seven years, climbing from $19.49 billion in 2018 to $54.48 billion by the tip of 2025, in keeping with the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026.

This means private-sector international obligations practically tripled in that interval and now type a bigger share of the nation’s general exterior debt. Private nonguaranteed debt loans taken by corporations from international banks and traders with none authorities assure reached $54.476 billion in December 2025.

By comparability, public and publicly assured exterior debt grew extra slowly, rising 155.5 p.c from $24.422 billion in 2018 to $62.4 billion in 2025. As a end result, non-public debt elevated from the equal of about 79.8 p.c of government-backed exterior debt in 2018 to 87.3 p.c in 2025.

Nigeria’s whole exterior debt, which incorporates public, non-public nonguaranteed and short-term obligations, expanded from $46.238 billion in 2018 to $145.015 billion in 2025.The report additionally underscored the upper price of personal borrowing. New loans from non-public international collectors in 2025 carried a mean rate of interest of 9.6 p.c and a reimbursement interval of 12 years, versus 1.9 p.c curiosity and 25-year phrases for loans from official collectors reminiscent of governments and multilateral establishments.

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