Nigeria has retained its position as the third-largest borrower from the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional lending arm of the World Bank, despite a slight decline in its debt exposure in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the IDA’s March 2026 financial statements, Nigeria’s exposure stood at $18.5 billion as of March 31, 2026, down marginally from $18.7 billion recorded at the end of December 2025.
The $200 million decline represents a 1.1 per cent reduction over the three-month period. However, on a year-on-year basis, Nigeria’s debt exposure increased significantly by $1.2 billion, or 6.9 per cent, from $17.3 billion recorded in March 2025.
The latest ranking places Nigeria behind Bangladesh and Pakistan among the World Bank’s largest IDA borrowers.
Data from the report showed that Bangladesh remained the largest borrower with an exposure of $22.7 billion, followed by Pakistan with $19.2 billion, while Nigeria ranked third with $18.5 billion.
Other major African borrowers include Ethiopia with $14.4 billion, Tanzania with $14.3 billion, and Kenya with $13.2 billion in outstanding exposure.
The report also revealed that the IDA’s total loans outstanding stood at $230.8 billion as of March 31, 2026, slightly below the $231.1 billion recorded at the end of December 2025, reflecting a mild moderation in the institution’s lending portfolio.
According to the IDA, loans classified under non-accrual status represented only 0.4 per cent of the total portfolio, while provisions for potential loan losses amounted to $6.3 billion, equivalent to about 2.0 per cent of underlying exposures.
Nigeria’s exposure accounted for roughly eight per cent of the IDA’s total loan portfolio and approximately 13.3 per cent of the combined exposure represented by the institution’s ten largest borrowing countries.
The IDA noted that its ten largest country exposures collectively accounted for about 60 per cent of total portfolio exposure as of March 2026, highlighting the concentration of concessional lending among a relatively small number of developing economies.
