Nigeria’s debt interest payments surge 37.5% to N7.7trn in H1’26 — World Bank

By Yinka Kolawole, with agency report
Nigeria’s debt interest payments surged by 37.5 per cent to N7.7 trillion in the first half of 2026 from N5.6 trillion in the corresponding period of 2025.
This indicates that the interest payments exceed the Federal Government’s revenue of N6.2 trillion during the period by N1.5 trillion, representing 24.2 per cent.
The World Bank disclosed this in its 2026 Nigeria Development Update (NDU), titled ‘Beyond the Federal Purse: How Higher Revenues Reshaped State Priorities’.
According to the report, interest payments rose to 3.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of 2026, from 2.5 per cent in the corresponding period of 20...