![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-02-18-225255.png\")
President Bola Tinubu. Credit: State House\nBolaeconometrics<\/p>\n
The Senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, has said Nigeria\u2019s absence from the list of the world\u2019s most indebted countries reflects disciplined fiscal coordination under President Bola Tinubu.\n<\/p>\n
Ibrahim, an ambassador-designate, made the assertion amid renewed public debate over Nigeria\u2019s debt profile and borrowing pattern.\n<\/p>\n
He disclosed this in a statement shared with PUNCH Online on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
His remarks, our correspondent, notes it comes against the backdrop of fresh global debt data released in Q4 2025 by the Institute of International Finance, Global Debt Monitor, analysed by Visual Capitalist on Monday, which shows several advanced economies carrying total debt burdens exceeding 300 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n
Hong Kong tops the global ranking at 380 per cent of GDP, followed by Japan (372 per cent), Singapore (347 per cent), France (326 per cent), and Canada (315 per cent).\n<\/p>\n
These ratios reflect combined government, corporate and household debt.\n<\/p>\n
While a number of African countries \u2014 including Senegal (156 per cent), South Africa (149 per cent) and Tunisia (143 per cent) \u2014 are experiencing rising debt levels, particularly driven by sovereign borrowing, Nigeria does not feature among the most indebted nations globally in terms of total debt-to-GDP ratio.<\/p>\n
Nigeria not ranked<\/p>\n
Nigeria is not ranked in global top five, neither is it in Africa\u2019s top 10.\n<\/p>\n
Reacting to the data, Ibrahim said critics who had forecast unsustainable borrowing under the Tinubu administration had been mistaken.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who expected reckless borrowing have been proven wrong,\u201d he said, adding that, \u201cNigeria is not on the list of the world\u2019s most indebted countries.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis reflects deliberate fiscal coordination and structured economic reforms.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to the senator, Nigeria\u2019s current fiscal outlook demonstrates that the administration has not embarked on excessive borrowing, contrary to earlier projections.\n<\/p>\n
He maintained that reform-driven policies \u2014 including fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification \u2014 were introduced to stabilise public finances and reduce long-term fiscal vulnerabilities.\n<\/p>\n
Ibrahim argued that although Nigeria continues to access credit facilities for infrastructure and development projects, such borrowings are being undertaken within manageable thresholds and aligned with revenue reforms.<\/p>\n
President Bola Tinubu. Credit: State House
\nBolaeconometrics<\/p>\n
He described the trend as evidence that what he termed \u201cBolaeconometrics\u201d \u2014 a phrase used by supporters to reference Tinubu\u2019s economic recalibration \u2014 is beginning to yield measurable results.\n<\/p>\n
However, the lawmaker cautioned that Nigeria\u2019s relative position outside the global high-debt bracket does not eliminate fiscal risks.\n<\/p>\n
He noted that \u201cwhile Nigeria may not rank among the most indebted countries globally, the sustainability of its debt remains closely tied to revenue generation and debt servicing capacity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Also, he stressed that \u201cimproving non-oil revenues, boosting exports and enhancing public sector efficiency will be critical to maintaining fiscal stability.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2019s public debt sustainability has remained a subject of intense policy and public discourse, especially amid global economic headwinds, tighter monetary conditions and exchange rate volatility affecting emerging markets.\n<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Ibrahim expressed confidence that ongoing structural reforms would strengthen Nigeria\u2019s macroeconomic fundamentals.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAs reforms mature and revenue improves, Nigeria\u2019s fiscal resilience will become even more evident,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The senator insisted that \u201cavailable global data support the view that Nigeria remains outside the league of the world\u2019s heavily indebted nations,\u201d even as debates over borrowing strategy and fiscal management continue domestically.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, has said Nigeria\u2019s absence from the list of the world\u2019s most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[81164,164690,84,95961,9124,1294,15762,159279,164691,164692,164693,106651,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-456861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-bola-tinubu","9":"tag-bolaeconometrics","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-debt-to-gdp-ratio","12":"tag-economic-reforms","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-exchange-rate","15":"tag-fiscal-reforms","16":"tag-fuel-subsidy-removal","17":"tag-jimoh-ibrahim","18":"tag-nigeria-debt","19":"tag-public-finance","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}