Lebanon: Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2017, Lebanon's domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP) rose 2.57 percentage points on 2016 (from 104% to 106.57%).

Across the 28 yearly changes before that (1989 to 2016), the average change was +1.77 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.72 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 13.83 percentage points in 1990 and the biggest yearly fall was 33.64 percentage points in 1991. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2017 the straight-line trend is upward, about 3.72 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 95% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 117.55% for 2020. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2015 to 2017 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 3.95%, against 5.49% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Lebanon in the 2017 ranking

• Saudi Arabia — 2nd of 2: 50.14%

What this measures

Domestic credit to private sector refers to financial resources provided to the private sector by financial corporations, such as through loans, purchases of nonequity securities, and trade credits and other accounts receivable, that establish a claim for repayment. For some countries these claims include credit to public enterprises. The financial corporations include monetary authorities and deposit money banks, as well as other financial corporations where data are available (including corporations that do not accept transferable deposits but do incur such liabilities as time and savings deposits). Examples of other financial corporations are finance and leasing companies, money lenders, insurance corporations, pension funds, and foreign exchange companies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

Limitations: Credit to the private sector may sometimes include credit to state-owned or partially state-owned enterprises.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 30 values

Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 3.1% (2020)
• Algeria — 19.59% (2025)
• Bahrain — 70.55% (2015)
• Djibouti — 25.16% (2025)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 25.84% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 57.83% (2016)
• Iraq — 13.99% (2024)
• Israel — 72.47% (2025)
• Jordan — 71.31% (2025)
• Kuwait — 4.92% (2025)

More financial sector data for Lebanon

• Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) — US$89,500 (2025)
• Net foreign assets (current LCU) — 51.57 trillion (2017)
• Claims on central government (annual growth as % of broad money) — -21.28% (2018)
• Net domestic credit (current LCU) — 160.19 trillion (2017)
• Broad money (current LCU) — 208.34 trillion (2017)
• Claims on private sector (annual growth as % of broad money) — 2.5% (2017)
• Broad money (annual % growth) — 4.21% (2017)
• DEC alternative conversion factor (LCU per US$) — US$89,500 (2025)
• Deposit interest rate (%) — 9.7% (2019)
• Lending interest rate (%)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Lebanon's domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP)?

106.57% in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1988?

It is up 52.02 percentage points from 54.55% in 1988. The highest value was 106.57% in 2017 and the lowest 42.97% in 1993.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator FS.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Development Indicators Database, World Bank (WB); National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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