Nigeria’s lending interest rate rose to 18.5% in 2025.

Neither way is good in itself. A higher rate rewards savers and compensates lenders for risk, while a lower rate makes borrowing cheaper, so each direction carries benefits and costs for different groups. The latest figure is 18.5% in January 2025, up from 16.3% a year earlier, a rise of 2.2 percentage points. Since 2016 the lowest level was 11.5% in January 2021. The January 2025 figure is also the highest in that span.

Why it matters. A Nigerian business borrowing for stock or working capital now faces an annual cost of 18.5%, which raises the margin it needs just to cover interest. Households with bank loans pay more to service them than a year earlier. Firms weighing expansion will set this cost against expected returns, and borrowers can check whether the rate moves back towards the 11.5% recorded in January 2021.