Nigeria pays off IMF $3.4 Billion Covid loan to exit debt list

By Tom Okpe

Nigeria has paid off $3.4 billion borrowed from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, during the Covid-19 pandemic, exiting the list of countries that are in debt to the Washington-based lender.

Finance Minister Wale Edun made this confirmation, through text message on Thursday, saying, “the loan had been repaid on the agreed terms.”

Recall that IMF granted Nigeria emergency assistance in April 2020 as the pandemic shattered businesses around the world, ŵith countries, closing their borders.

“The West African nation now has no outstanding IMF debt, though the Fund expects it to honor some additional payments of roughly $30 million a year in Special Drawing Rights charges, IMF resident representative for Nigeria Christian Ebeke said in a separate statement.

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“Still, the repayment is a mark of the country’s improved financial position, with the central bank’s net foreign exchange reserves, reaching a three-year high last month.

“Nigeria has sought to improve local dollar liquidity after years of running a fixed exchange rate regime that burdened the economy of Africa’s largest oil producer, with a wildly overvalued local currency.

“President Bola Tinubu’s free-floated the Naira after taking office in 2023 as part of a broader campaign of economic reform, contributing to the currency losing more than 70% of its value against the dollar.”

The IMF recently, commended Nigeria’s reforms for putting the country in a better position to navigate external challenges.