Nigeria Exits IMF Debt List

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has removed Nigeria from its list of debtor-countries.
Nigeria joins Switzerland, Singapore, China and New Zealand on the list of the countries not indebted to the Fund, having recently cleared its $1.6billion debt owed the IMF.
In a report, titled, ‘Total IMF Credit Outstanding- Movement from May 01, 2025 to May 06, 2025,’ posted on its website on Wednesday, May 7, Nigeria was cospicously missing from the list of debtors, which had 91 developing and least developed countries indebted to the tune of $117,797,656,224 as at May 6, this year.
This development was also confirmed by data firm, StatiSense, on its X handle, saying that as at July 28, 2023, Nigeria owed the Fund $1.61billion, which was reduced to $1.37billion as at January 5, last year, $933.03million as at July 10, last year, $472.06million as at January 8, this year, before it was cleared this month.
A media aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Tolu Ogunlesi, said: “Nigeria got US$3.4billion in ’emergency financial assistance’ from the IMF, under the ‘Rapid Financing Instrument.’
“This US$3.4billion (equivalent to 2.454.5billion SDR, amounting to 100 per cent of our SDR quota) COVID-19 assistance from the IMF to @NigeriaGov, under the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), has now been fully repaid, in line with the terms of the agreement.
“A repayment period of five years, meaning 2020 to 2025, and a moratorium of 3.25 years, meaning that we had a grace period until Q3 2023 before we had to start repaying. So, repayment schedule: 2023-2025.
“PBAT has kept to the terms, and as of May 2025, the loan has been fully repaid. Naija no dey carry last, and we no dey default.
“This is what the repayment looks like, from the @IMFNews website: ‘Outstanding as at June 30, 2023, 2,454,500,000; Dec 31, 2023, 1,840,875,000; “June 30, 2024, 1,227,250,000; March 31, 2025, 306,810,000 and May 07, 2025, 0.”