Nigeria's indebtedness to the World Bank rises to ₦6.42 trillion

According to a report by The PUNCH, the total debt Nigeria owed the World Bank Group rose by $7.64bn (₦3.52 trillion) between 2015 and 2022.

The data sourced from the external debt stock reports of the Debt Management Office, DMO also revealed that Nigeria’s indebtedness to the World Bank rose from $6.29 billion (₦2.9 trillion) in December 2015, to $13.93 billion (₦6.42 trillion) in December 2022.

The World Bank has over the years, been a source of financial aid to Nigeria as its International Development Association, IDA and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD have funded Nigeria's major developmental policies.

The IBRD provides loans to governments of low-income countries that are creditworthy while the IDA attends to governments of the poorest countries by providing concessionary loans – called credits – and grants.

Although the World Bank in its latest Africa’s Pulse report for April 2023, predicted a 2.8% economic growth for Nigeria in 2023, it issued a warning that the incoming administration in Nigeria will face weak economic growth and policy challenges this year.

Part of the report read, “The growth recovery in Nigeria for 2023 (2.8 percent) is still fragile as oil production remains subdued and the new administration faces many policy challenges.”

In 2016, the total loan Nigeria owed the IDA stood at $6.29 billion while it owed the IBRD $3.57 million. This amount shot up in 2022 as the borrowing through IDA hit $13.45 billion while the one from IBRD was $487.03 million.

A yearly summary of the amount Nigeria owed the world bank from 2016 to 2021 further showed that Nigeria’s total borrowing was $6.67 billion in 2016, $8.03 billion in 2017, $8.67 billion in 2018, $10.1 billion in 2019, $11.53 billion, and $12.38 billion in 2021.

Nigeria, due to its rising debt profile has booked a place in the World Bank’s top 10 International Development Association borrowers’ list.