Nigeria has fully repaid $3.4bn IMF loan – Minister

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has confirmed that Nigeria has fully repaid the $3.4 billion COVID loan obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The minister said this in an interview with State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday.

Mr Idris addressed some scepticism regarding the repayment, stating, “We can report that Nigeria has, indeed, exited from that debt, meaning we have paid it in full.”

He explained that the loan was taken during the COVID-19 period, before the current administration, but President Bola Tinubu considered the government as a continuum and directed that the country repay the loan.

Mr Idris emphasised that the move demonstrated Nigeria’s seriousness and capacity to meet its debt obligations, signalling to investors both domestically and internationally that Nigeria was responsible in managing its finances.

The IMF last week disclosed that Nigeria repaid the financial support of $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 that the West African nation is, however, expected to honour additional payments in the form of Special Drawing Rights charges of about $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 honour additional payments in the form of Special Drawing Rights charges of about US$30 million annually.

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“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) ($4.3 billion) and its cumulative SDR allocation (SDR 4,027 million) ($5.5 billion).”

The net payment of the charges stops when Nigeria’s SDR holdings reach the cumulative allocation amount, the IMF said.

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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.

New Procurement Threshold

Meanwhile, Mr Idris announced that the FEC had directed the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) to communicate the new procurement threshold for goods and services to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

He noted that the threshold had been in place for a long time and contributed to the number of approvals required from the council.

He also stated that the council had directed all MDAs, especially the Ministry of Works, to collaborate more with the private sector on infrastructure development.

“The government is saying that there is an increasing need for private sector participation in our economic growth,” Mr Idris added.