Nigeria is facing about $6.4 billion in sovereign Eurobond repayments between 2024 and 2030, placing the country joint third with Ghana among sub-Saharan African nations with the largest repayment obligations, according to the World Bank.
The figure was contained in the World Bank’s October 2026 Africa Economic Update, titled Building AI Readiness, which examined the growing debt-servicing and refinancing challenges confronting African economies.
South Africa has the largest Eurobond principal due during the period at $11.8 billion, followed by Ghana and Nigeria at $6.4 billion each. Angola ranks next with $3.9 billion.
Across 13 sub-Saharan African countries, the World Bank estimates that approximately $43.6 billion in sovereign Eurobond principal will mature between 2024 and 2030, after accounting for bond buybacks and other liability-management transactions completed through August 2026.
Nigeria’s $6.4 billion obligation represents roughly 14.7 per cent of the regional total. South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria collectively account for about $24.6 billion, representing more than half of the projected maturities.
Other countries facing significant repayments include Kenya with $3.2 billion, Côte d’Ivoire with $2.8 billion and Zambia with $2.2 billion.
The repayment challenge comes as African countries face considerably higher borrowing costs following the global rise in interest rates that began in 2022. According to the World Bank, governments have increasingly relied on refinancing to manage maturing Eurobonds rather than settling the obligations entirely from government revenues.
Nigeria has also been one of the region’s biggest users of international bond markets. Between 2015 and August 2026, sub-Saharan African countries raised about $122 billion through 158 Eurobond transactions, with six countries accounting for more than 80 per cent of the total.
South Africa led with $23.7 billion raised through 15 transactions, while Nigeria issued about $20 billion across 18 transactions. Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya followed with $15.8 billion, $15 billion, $12.6 billion and $12.2 billion respectively.
International capital markets became significantly more difficult for African sovereigns to access after interest rates increased in 2022. Nigeria, Angola and South Africa were among the few countries in the region that managed to issue Eurobonds that year.
Market access improved in 2024, when Nigeria raised $2.2 billion. However, the cost of borrowing was considerably higher than before the global rate increases. Nigeria’s 2024 Eurobond issues carried coupons of 9.6 per cent and 10.4 per cent, about three percentage points above comparable borrowing in 2021.
The World Bank said Eurobond yields across the region during the 2024 reopening ranged from 7.1 per cent to 10.4 per cent, significantly higher than levels recorded before 2022.
The bank warned that refinancing maturing debt may reduce immediate pressure but could create larger fiscal obligations in the future because governments are replacing older, cheaper debt with more expensive borrowing.
Kenya, for example, refinanced much of a $2 billion Eurobond that matured in 2024 by issuing $1.5 billion in new debt alongside budgetary resources. The new borrowing carried a 10.4 per cent yield, compared with 6.9 per cent on the original bond.
Ghana used a different approach, completing a debt exchange in October 2024, while Ethiopia restructured its $1 billion debut Eurobond after defaulting in late 2023.
The World Bank expects refinancing pressure to remain significant across the region, with about $6.6 billion due in 2027 and $7.5 billion in 2029 after liability-management transactions reduced the amount originally scheduled to mature in 2028.
The bank also highlighted concerns over the shorter maturity periods of many Eurobonds issued during the 2024-2026 market reopening. While African governments previously secured international bonds with maturities of around 10 to 12 years, many recent issues have terms of only five to six years.
According to the World Bank, the combination of shorter maturities and elevated interest rates could cause refinancing pressures to return sooner and further constrain government finances.
The report further noted that public and publicly guaranteed external debt-service payments across sub-Saharan Africa have remained elevated at around 1.6 to 1.7 per cent of GDP since 2021.
It warned that increasing interest and principal repayments could divert government resources away from infrastructure, human capital development and social protection, leaving countries with less fiscal room to respond to economic pressures.
