A recent International Debt Report released for 2023 has shown that Nigeria was the highest recipient of fresh loans in 2022, receiving $2.9 billion from the World Bank.
This was followed by Tanzania, which got $2.7 billion in the same year.
The report, which is an annual publication that features the external debt statistics for over 100 low and medium-income countries, revealed that $443.5 billion was spent by developing countries on debt servicing in four decades (40 years), of which Nigeria is among.
The World Bank said, “Debt-service payments—which include principal and interest—increased by 5 per cent over the previous year for all developing countries. The 75 countries eligible to borrow from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)—which supports the poorest countries—paid $88.9 billion in debt-servicing costs in 2022.
“Over the past decade, interest payments by these countries have quadrupled, to an all-time high of $23.6 billion in 2022. The report finds that debt-servicing costs for the 24 poorest countries are expected to balloon in 2023 and 2024—by as much as 39 per cent.”
As of June 30 2023, Nigeria owes the World Bank $14.5 billion, according to data ovation from the Debt Management Office website.