diff --git a/module/srfi/srfi-19.scm b/module/srfi/srfi-19.scm
index 795ad50a9..1b795f380 100644
--- a/module/srfi/srfi-19.scm
+++ b/module/srfi/srfi-19.scm
@@ -1063,7 +1063,7 @@
                (newline port)))
    (cons #\N (lambda (date pad-with port)
                (display (padding (date-nanosecond date)
-                                      pad-with 7)
+                                      pad-with 9)
                         port)))
    (cons #\p (lambda (date pad-with port)
                (display (locale-am-string/pm (date-hour date)) port)))
diff --git a/test-suite/tests/srfi-19.test b/test-suite/tests/srfi-19.test
index d63e62222..534cd7ca0 100644
--- a/test-suite/tests/srfi-19.test
+++ b/test-suite/tests/srfi-19.test
@@ -175,6 +175,11 @@ incomplete numerical tower implementation.)"
       (equal? "Sun Jun 05 18:33:00+0200 2005"
               (date->string date))))
 
+  (pass-if "date->string pads small nanoseconds values correctly"
+    (let* ((date (make-date 99999999 5 34 12 26 3 2017 0)))
+      (equal? "099999999"
+              (date->string date "~N"))))
+
   ;; check time comparison procedures
   (let* ((time1 (make-time time-monotonic 0 0))
          (time2 (make-time time-monotonic 0 0))