World Bank warns Nigeria over rising debt, export reliance

‎The World Bank has issued a warning to Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations in its International Debt Report 2025. The report identifies NIgeria as a global exception where debt levels and servicing costs continued to climb throughout 2024, even as GDP growth remained subdued.
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‎Despite a sluggish economy, borrowing has accelerated to cover fiscal gaps in Nigeria. The World Bank’s analysis shows several systemic vulnerabilities. Unlike other regions, SSA debt isn’t driving investment, it is being used to survive slow growth periods.
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‎High debt servicing is siphoning funds away from health, education, and infrastructure, linking the debt crisis to national nutrition insecurity.
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‎While Nigeria successfully returned to the Eurobond market, raising $2.2bn, it did so at rates unseen since the pre-2008 financial crisis.
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‎Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest current account surpluses, alongside Angola and Djibouti. Despite the surplus, it remains clustered in the category with countries like Kenya and Zambia due to institutional weaknesses and debt-to-GDP ratios.
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‎Nigeria remains one of the top five global beneficiaries of World Bank credit. Net flows from the World Bank (IBRD/IDA) hit an all-time high of $36bn in 2024. Nigeria, Bangladesh, Kenya, Philippines, and Ukraine accounted for over half of these multilateral inflows.
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‎The World Bank insists that Nigeria must stop relying on raw commodity exports especially crude oil, to service debt. The report advocates for export diversification, including moving into processed goods and services to create more resilient revenue streams. ‎The world Bank also suggested the need for the improvement of the capacity of government agencies to manage debt transparently and efficiently.
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