5 things to know about Nigeria’s $3.4 billion IMF loan repayment by Tinubu

Nigeria has paid off $3.4 billion borrowed from the International Monetary Fund during the Covid-19 pandemic, exiting the list of countries that are in debt to the Washington-based lender.

The repayment is a mark of the country’s improved financial position, with the central bank’s net foreign exchange reserves reaching a three-year high last month.

Nigeria has sought to improve local dollar liquidity after years of running a fixed exchange rate regime that burdened the economy of Africa’s largest oil producer with a wildly overvalued local currency.

Here are five facts to know about the $3.4 billion repayment loan

1. Nigeria’s $3.4 billion loan from the IMF was one of the largest disbursements under the RFI globally at the time and came with relatively favourable terms compared to traditional IMF programmes.

2. The IMF granted Nigeria emergency assistance in April 2020 as the pandemic shuttered businesses around the world and countries closed their borders.

3. The West African nation now has no outstanding IMF debt, though the Fund expects it to honor some additional payments of roughly $30 million a year in Special Drawing Rights charges, IMF resident representative for Nigeria Christian Ebeke said in a separate statement.

4. Earlier reports showed that debt servicing to the IMF surged to $1.63 billion in 2024, made up entirely of principal repayments, with no interest or charges recorded for that year. In total, Nigeria’s external debt servicing for 2024 amounted to $4.66 billion, an increase from $3.5 billion in 2023.

5. This loan repayment happened under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

6. The IMF’s confirmation of the loan repayment is seen as a positive development for Nigeria’s external debt profile.