Nigeria’s outstanding syndicated loans rose by $2.73bn in one year, increasing more than 21-fold as the Federal Government expanded its use of commercial financing for infrastructure projects, an analysis of Debt Management Office data by The PUNCH has shown.
The loans increased from $133.66m in March 2025 to $2.86bn in March 2026, representing a $2.73bn or 2,041 per cent increase within 12 months. The surge also significantly altered the composition of the country’s external debt, with syndicated loans rising from just 0.29 per cent of the total stock in March 2025 to 5.51 per cent a year later.
This comes amid concerns over Nigeria’s growing debt stock and the associated servicing obligations, particularly as the government increasingly taps commercial financing to fund infrastructure.
According to the DMO, Nigeria’s external debt stood at $45.98bn as of March 31, 2025, comprising $22.43bn in multilateral loans, $6.03bn in bilateral debt and $17.51bn in commercial obligations.
The commercial debt included $17.32bn in Eurobonds, $133.66m in syndicated loans and $54.36m owed to Deutsche Bank. At $133.66m, syndicated loans accounted for about 0.29 per cent of the country’s total external debt at the time.
