A detailed review of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) financial report has revealed a significant increase in the country’s indebtedness to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its overall debt burden under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. The report shows that between 2023 and 2024, Nigeria’s liabilities to the IMF alone grew by a staggering N2.545 trillion, Sahara Reporters report.
According to figures presented in the CBN’s financial statement for the year ending December 31, 2024, Nigeria’s IMF-related obligations rose from N2.524 trillion in 2023 to N5.069 trillion by the end of 2024. These IMF liabilities, described in the CBN document as “other payables owed by the Federal Government of Nigeria to the General Purpose Account of the IMF,” ballooned primarily due to the depreciation of the naira. The devaluation led to an exchange loss of N2.544 trillion during the reporting period.
This increase in foreign-denominated liabilities is just a fraction of the broader debt crisis Nigeria faces. Despite promises by President Tinubu to reduce reliance on borrowing, especially for public spending, data indicates an alarming rise in both domestic and external debt. In a public address during the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on Tax Reforms in August 2023, Tinubu had vowed to break what he described as a “vicious cycle of overreliance on borrowing,” stressing the need to relieve Nigeria’s strained revenue system from excessive debt servicing.
However, fiscal realities have sharply diverged from this promise. As of June 30, 2023 — marking the close of Tinubu’s first month in office — Nigeria’s external debt (excluding that owed by subnational governments) stood at N29.8 trillion. But by December 31, 2024, that figure had risen dramatically to N62.917 trillion, showing a staggering increase of N33.1 trillion in just 18 months.
On the domestic front, the Federal Government’s debt was recorded at N48.3 trillion as of mid-2023. By the end of 2024, this had surged to N70.4 trillion, reflecting an additional N22.1 trillion in domestic borrowing. Taken together, the Federal Government’s total debt profile (excluding state and FCT liabilities) increased by N55.2 trillion within the same period.
Moreover, government expenditure on debt servicing has also escalated. According to the Q4 2024 economic report from the CBN, Nigeria spent N2.199 trillion on debt servicing in just that quarter — exceeding the N2.067 trillion budgeted and also higher than the N2.055 trillion spent in Q3. This also marked a sharp rise from Q4 2023, when N1.876 trillion was allocated to debt service.
The report highlighted that by the end of September 2024, Nigeria’s public debt stock stood at N142.32 trillion, equivalent to 51.29% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While this figure remains below the 70% threshold for market-access countries, it signals mounting fiscal pressure. The CBN attributed the debt increase to both new borrowings to cover the 2024 budget deficit and the currency revaluation effects caused by exchange rate depreciation.
Further corroborating this data, figures from the Debt Management Office (DMO) indicated that total public debt had climbed to N144.6 trillion by the close of 2024, reinforcing concerns over Nigeria’s increasing financial obligations in the face of economic headwinds.
SOURCE: Opera