Nigeria remains the third-largest borrower from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional lending arm, even after a small drop in its debt exposure in the first quarter of 2026.
IDA’s March 2026 financial statements showed Nigeria’s exposure stood at $18.5 billion as of March 31, 2026, down from $18.7 billion at the end of December 2025. The $200 million decline represents a 1.1 per cent reduction over three months.
Despite that fall, Nigeria’s debt exposure rose by $1.2 billion year-on-year, climbing from $17.3 billion in March 2025 to $18.5 billion in March 2026, an increase of 6.9 per cent.
The latest ranking places Nigeria behind Bangladesh and Pakistan. Bangladesh remained the largest borrower with $22.7 billion in exposure, followed by Pakistan with $19.2 billion. Nigeria ranked third with $18.5 billion.
Among African countries, Ethiopia recorded $14.4 billion in exposure, Tanzania $14.3 billion, and Kenya $13.2 billion.
The report showed IDA’s total loans outstanding stood at $230.8 billion as of March 31, 2026, slightly below the $231.1 billion recorded in December 2025. Loans under non-accrual status accounted for just 0.4 per cent of the portfolio, while provisions for possible loan losses stood at $6.3 billion, about 2.0 per cent of underlying exposures.
Nigeria accounted for roughly eight per cent of the IDA’s total loan portfolio and about 13.3 per cent of the combined exposure of the institution’s ten largest borrowers. Those top ten countries made up about 60 per cent of total portfolio exposure.
The Federal Government is also seeking more World Bank support. Nigeria is pursuing a fresh $1.25 billion facility to expand access to finance, improve digital services, strengthen electricity supply, and support reforms in tax administration, agriculture and trade.
If approved, total World Bank loan approvals secured under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration since June 2023 would rise to about $10.6 billion. The facility would rank among Nigeria’s largest recent World Bank loans, following the $1.5 billion Reforms for Economic Stabilisation to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing approved in June 2024.
Experts have warned about rising multilateral borrowing as Nigeria’s debt profile reached N159 trillion in 2025.
A finance expert and senior partner at SPM Professionals, Dr. Paul Alaje, said the growing debt burden would ultimately be borne by Nigerians, including future generations.
“So here is the point, as the volume increases, Nigeria has to pay more, mind you the debt they gave to us is not this year, but as of December 31 2025. So by the time we look at the one that we have retired and the new loans that have been approved and some that have been collected this year, it is clear that by the time the DMO is reporting that in the first quarter 2026, we would have crossed $160 billion. So it’s more of a burden on the economy. Whether we have the capacity to pay or not is a different kettle of fish,” he added.
