Nigeria spent $5.21 billion on external debt service in 2025, accounting for over 72% of the country’s total international payments, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Figures published on the CBN website show that external debt service payments rose to $5.21 billion in 2025, up from $4.66 billion recorded in 2024, indicating an increase of $551.86 million or 11.9% year-on-year.
The increase occurred despite a slight decline in Nigeria’s overall international payments during the period.
Total international payments fell from $7.44 billion in 2024 to $7.22 billion in 2025, representing a drop of about $217.68 million or 2.9%.
However, the share of external payments devoted to debt servicing increased significantly.
Data from the apex bank shows that 72.11% of Nigeria’s international payments in 2025 went to external debt service, compared with 62.58% in 2024.
This means nearly three out of every four dollars Nigeria paid externally in 2025 went towards servicing foreign debt obligations, highlighting the growing weight of debt repayments on the country’s external financial commitments.
What the data shows
Monthly data further reveal that Nigeria’s external debt payments were highly uneven throughout the year, reflecting the maturity structure of the country’s external loans.
The highest debt service payment occurred in November 2025, when Nigeria paid $1.31 billion to service external debt. Total international payments that month stood at $1.49 billion, meaning debt repayments accounted for almost the entire external outflow during the month.
- Another significant repayment period was March 2025, when the country spent $632.36 million on external debt servicing, while total international payments reached $786.86 million.
- By contrast, some months recorded relatively smaller repayments. For instance, Nigeria paid $143.39 million in external debt service in June 2025, one of the lowest monthly debt service figures during the year.
- Other monthly repayments included $557.79 million in April, $542.70 million in September, $302.30 million in August, and $179.95 million in July, showing the irregular distribution of repayment obligations across the year.
- Debt service falls year-on-year but rises monthly in January 2026
- The CBN data also shows mixed trends in January 2026, with external debt service declining sharply on a year-on-year basis but increasing compared with the previous month.
- In January 2026, Nigeria paid $256.81 million in external debt service, while total international payments stood at $405.33 million.
- When compared with January 2025, external debt service dropped significantly from $540.67 million to $256.81 million, representing a year-on-year decline of $283.87 million or about 52.5%.
Total international payments also declined during the same period, falling from $659.67 million in January 2025 to $405.33 million in January 2026, a decrease of $254.34 million or 38.6%.
However, the trend differs when compared on a month-on-month basis.
External debt service increased from $205.73 million in December 2025 to $256.81 million in January 2026, representing a 24.8% increase.
Conversely, total international payments fell month-on-month from $481.53 million in December 2025 to $405.33 million in January 2026, a decline of $76.20 million or 15.8%.
External debt repayments continued to dominate Nigeria’s international payment structure in January 2026.
Based on the figures, debt service accounted for about 63.4% of the country’s total international payments during the month.
Although this share is lower than the 72.11% recorded for the whole of 2025, it still shows that external debt repayments remain the largest single component of Nigeria’s external financial obligations.
