Nigeria faces a $6.4bn sovereign Eurobond repayment burden between 2024 and 2030, ranking joint third among the largest repayment exposures in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank.
The World Bank disclosed this in its October 2026 Africa Economic Update, titled Building AI Readiness, which examined rising debt-servicing and refinancing pressures across the continent.
The report said, “South Africa faces the largest repayment burden, with US$11.8 billion, with maturities in every year of the period. It is followed by Ghana ($6.4bn), Nigeria ($6.4bn), and Angola ($3.9bn).”
This places Nigeria and Ghana jointly behind South Africa in the ranking of countries with the largest Eurobond principal falling due during the seven-year period.
Overall, the World Bank estimated that sovereign Eurobond principal maturing across 13 sub-Saharan African countries between 2024 and 2030 stood at about $43.6bn, after adjusting for bond buybacks and liability-management operations completed through August 2026.
Nigeria’s $6.4bn exposure represents about 14.7 per cent of the region’s total maturity burden. Together, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria account for $24.6bn, or about 56 per cent of the $43.6bn maturity wall.
Other countries with significant obligations include Angola at $3.9bn, Kenya at $3.2bn, Côte d’Ivoire at $2.8bn and Zambia at $2.2bn.
The repayment burden comes amid significantly higher borrowing costs for Nigeria and other African sovereigns returning to international capital markets following the global monetary tightening cycle that began in 2022.
The World Bank said sovereign Eurobond issuance in sub-Saharan Africa totalled about $122bn across 158 transactions between 2015 and August 2026.
Six countries accounted for more than 80 per cent of those issuances, with Nigeria emerging as the region’s second-largest issuer.
South Africa issued $23.7bn through 15 transactions during the period, while Nigeria raised $20bn across 18 transactions. Angola followed with $15.8bn, Côte d’Ivoire with $15bn, Ghana with $12.6bn and Kenya with $12.2bn.
International capital markets became largely inaccessible to African governments after global interest rates rose in 2022. Nigeria, Angola and South Africa were the only sub-Saharan African sovereigns able to issue Eurobonds that year, according to the report.
Market access began recovering in 2024, when Nigeria raised $2.2bn alongside issuances of $3.5bn by South Africa, $2.6bn by Côte d’Ivoire and $1.5bn by Kenya.
However, the return to the market came at a substantially higher price. The report noted that Nigeria’s 2024 Eurobond issuances carried coupons of 9.6 per cent and 10.4 per cent, about 300 basis points higher than comparable issuances in 2021.
Across the region, yields on bonds issued during the 2024 market reopening ranged between 7.1 per cent and 10.4 per cent, about 300 to 500 basis points above comparable levels before 2022.
The World Bank warned that the higher borrowing costs could compound fiscal pressures even where countries successfully refinance maturing obligations.
“Although refinancing operations help ease near-term rollover pressures, they also lock in higher debt service costs for years to come, increasing fiscal burdens and reducing policy space even as immediate refinancing risks subside,” the report said.
The bank said refinancing, rather than outright repayment from government revenues, had become the main strategy adopted by most African sovereigns confronting maturing Eurobonds.
For instance, Kenya refinanced most of a $2bn Eurobond that matured in 2024 by issuing $1.5bn in new debt, supplemented with budget resources. The new borrowing came at a yield of 10.4 per cent compared with the 6.9 per cent coupon on the original debt.
Ghana, meanwhile, dealt with its obligations through a debt exchange completed in October 2024, while Ethiopia restructured its $1bn debut Eurobond after entering default in late 2023.
The maturity pressure is expected to remain substantial across the region. Following liability-management operations that reduced obligations falling due in 2028 to about $5.5bn, the largest forthcoming concentrations are $6.6bn in 2027 and $7.5bn in 2029.
The World Bank raised a further concern over the structure of recent borrowing, noting that many Eurobonds issued during the 2024-2026 reopening have maturities of only five to six years, compared with the 10- to 12-year tenors common before the COVID-19 pandemic.
It warned that the combination of shorter maturities and higher interest rates meant refinancing pressures could return sooner.
“For several Sub-Saharan African sovereigns, Eurobond financing increasingly resembles a refinancing cycle in which successive rollovers address near-term maturities but gradually erode fiscal space through higher debt service costs,” the Bank stated.
Beyond Eurobonds, the report said public and publicly guaranteed external debt service across sub-Saharan Africa had remained elevated at about 1.6 to 1.7 per cent of gross domestic product since 2021.
It warned that rising interest and principal payments were consuming government revenues that could otherwise finance infrastructure, human capital and social protection.