Nigeria completes repayment of $3.4bn COVID19 loan

The International Monetary Fund, IMF has removed Nigeria from its credit outstanding list for the period covering May 1 to May 6, 2025.

In the list, more than 90 countries owe a combined $117.79 billion, and Nigeria is not among them.

Data from the IMF shows the Bretton Woods institution disbursed SDR 2.45 billion to Nigeria in 2020.

Special Drawing Right, SDR is a type of currency reserve used by the IMF.

The repayments, according to the IMF, were made as follows: SDR613.62 million in 2023, SDR1.22 billion in 2024, and SDR613.62 million in 2025.

The five-year repayment period has now been completed under the current administration, in line with the agreed terms.

Nigeria obtained the loan when former President Muhammadu Buhari was serving his second term.

“A repayment period of 5 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. This is what the repayment schedule 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; May 07, 2025: 0,” a former aide to Buhari said.

Corroborating this, O’tega Ogra, senior special assistant on digital and new media to President Bola Tinubu, said, with the repayment, Nigeria is now better placed to strengthen our fiscal credibility and show the world, and Nigerians, that Nigeria is serious about managing our economy with responsibility and vision.

Ogra added that, henceforth, any future engagement will be proactive, not reactive and will also be based on partnership, not dependence.