Angola has secured 25% of Chinese loans to Africa since 2000

Between 2000 and 2023, Africa received $182 billion in Chinese loans, primarily for energy and transportation development.

Angola, with 25%, was the largest recipient; Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya followed.

While 49 countries benefited, experts warn of increasing debt risks.

Source:

Boston University Global Development Policy Center

Period:

2000-2023
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The top three indebted states (Lagos, Kaduna, and Edo) collectively account for over $2.18B, nearly half of the total $4.80B states' external debt
  • Lagos alone accounts for nearly 25% of all Nigerian states’ external debt, totalling $1.17 billion.
  • The combined debt of Lagos, Kaduna, and Edo is larger than the sum of the debts of the bottom 30 states.
  • States like Yobe, Abuja, and Jigawa each owe less than $25 million externally, indicating minimal foreign exposure.
  • Cross River, Rivers, and Ogun round out the top six debtors, each with external debts around [$190–210] million.
  • Just eleven states owe over $100 million each, while the majority owes less than that threshold.
  • Despite 36 subnational governments, the federal government’s $40.98 billion external debt is over 8x that of all states combined.

Jigawa has the lowest domestic debt among Nigerian states at ₦1.06B, a stark contrast to Lagos's (the highest) ₦874.04B debt
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  • Jigawa’s domestic debt of ₦1.06 billion is less than 0.15% of Lagos’s debt, showing the widest disparity.
  • The 10 highest-indebted states account for nearly 70% of the total domestic debts across Nigerian states.
  • The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) carries more debt than 17 other states.

Nigeria’s outstanding debt to the World Bank has grown nearly 100-fold since 1970, reaching $17.8 billion in 2024
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  • From 2020 to 2024, the outstanding debt rose by $6.4 billion, the sharpest five-year surge on record.
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