UPDATED: IMF speaks on Nigeria’s COVID loan repayment, outstanding charges

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday disclosed that Nigeria has fully repaid its financial support of US$3.4 billion it requested and received in April 2020.

The fund was disbursed under the Rapid Financing Instrument, designed to help alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp fall in oil prices.

An IMF spokesperson told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday afternoon that the nation is however expected to honor additional payments in the form of Special Drawing Rights charges of about US$30 million annually.

“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 spokesperson said.

“Nigeria is expected to honor 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, the IMF said.

Special Drawing Right (SDR) is not a currency, but an international reserve asset whose value is based on a basket of five currencies—the US dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling.

The IMF said the SDR was created as a supplementary international reserve asset in 1969, when currencies were tied to the price of gold and the US dollar was the leading international reserve asset.

Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.

Open in WhatsApp

Background

Earlier in the week, a document titled “Total IMF Credit Outstanding – Movement from 1 May 2025 to 6 May, 2025”, published on IMF website, showed its list of debtors.

Nigeria was not listed among the debtors, which contained a total of 91 developing and least developed countries owing the Fund a total of $117,797,656,224 as of 6 May.

O’tega Ogra, senior special assistant on digital and new media to President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday tweeted about the repayment, saying Nigeria is now better placed to strengthen its fiscal position.

The presidential aide added that future engagements will be proactive, not reactive and will also be based on partnership.

On Thursday, ex-presidential aide Tolu Ogunlesi noted that the five-year repayment period had been completed under the current administration, in line with the agreed terms.

READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: IMF/World Bank meetings echo reasons Tinubu, African leaders must look inwards

“This US$3.4 billion (equivalent to 2.454.5 billion SDR; amounting to 100% 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,” he tweeted.

“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. BAT 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 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.”

In a separate statement Thursday afternoon, Christian Ebeke, IMF Resident Representative for Nigeria, confirmed the repayment details.