IMF confirms Nigeria’s full repayment of $3.4 billion COVID-19 loan

Updated Friday 9 May 2025 15:30

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has certified that Nigeria has fully repaid the $3.4 billion financial help it received under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to cushion the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The repayment was finished on April 30, 2025, the Fund said in a statement emailed to reporters on Thursday on behalf of Mr. Christian Ebeke, the IMF's Resident Representative for Nigeria.

At the height of the pandemic, in April 2020, the facility was disbursed to help Nigeria deal with fiscal challenges, economic contraction, and a precipitous decline in oil prices.

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“As of April 30, 2025, Nigeria has fully repaid the financial support of about US$3.4 billion it requested and received in April 2020 from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Rapid Financing Instrument to help alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp fall in oil prices,” the IMF stated.

Nigeria to continue paying SDR charges

The Fund stated that notwithstanding the full settlement of the principal, Nigeria will continue to honour additional annual payments linked to Special Drawing Rights (SDR) charges.

It made it clear that over the coming years, Nigeria would keep paying about $30 million a year in SDR-related fees.

These fees result from the discrepancy between Nigeria's total SDR allocation and its SDR holdings.

The statement noted, “Nigeria is expected to honor some additional payments in the form of Special Drawing Rights charges of about US$30 million annually.

“In line with the IMF’s Articles of Agreements, these charges, levied at the SDR interest rate, which is updated at the beginning of each week, apply to the difference between Nigeria’s SDR holdings (SDR 3,164 million) (US$4.3 billion) and its cumulative SDR allocation (SDR 4,027 million) (US$5.5 billion) The net payment of the charges stops when Nigeria’s SDR holdings reach the cumulative allocation amount.”

Data obtained from the IMF’s website by Nairametrics indicates that Nigeria’s total charge for 2025 is expected to reach SDR 22.35 million (approximately $30.24 million), with payments scheduled across May, August, and November.

What you should know

Nigeria’s $3.4 billion loan from the IMF was one of the largest disbursements under the RFI globally at the time and came with relatively favourable terms compared to traditional IMF programmes.

Earlier reports showed that debt servicing to the IMF surged to $1.63 billion in 2024, made up entirely of principal repayments, with no interest or charges recorded for that year. In total, Nigeria’s external debt servicing for 2024 amounted to $4.66 billion, an increase from $3.5 billion in 2023.
Multilateral creditors accounted for the bulk of the external debt servicing at $2.62 billion or 56%, with the IMF alone responsible for about 35% of the total external debt payments in 2024.
The IMF’s confirmation of the loan repayment is seen as a positive development for Nigeria’s external debt profile.

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