São Tomé and Principe: Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, São Tomé and Principe's domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP) fell 5.04 percentage points on 2022 (from 12.85% to 7.82%).

Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2022), the average change was +0.31 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.51 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.71 percentage points in 2005 and the biggest yearly fall was 5.04 percentage points in 2023. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 the straight-line trend is downward, about 2.83 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 96% 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 2.63% for 2026. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2021 to 2023 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 4.48%, against 7.11% 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

In 2023, São Tomé and Principe had the 9th highest value of the 10 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to São Tomé and Principe in the 2023 ranking

• Nigeria — 5th of 10: 13.21%
• Tajikistan — 6th of 10: 12.22%
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 7th of 10: 11.29%
• Zimbabwe — 9th of 10: 6.48%
• Equatorial Guinea — 10th of 10: 5.81%

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 29 values

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

• Angola — 6.58% (2025)
• Benin — 19.78% (2025)
• Botswana — 33.23% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 22.72% (2025)
• Burundi — 38.54% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 54.04% (2025)
• Cameroon — 14.09% (2019)
• Central African Republic — 13.04% (2022)
• Chad — 8.32% (2021)
• Comoros — 15.32% (2024)

More financial sector data for São Tomé and Principe

• DEC alternative conversion factor (LCU per US$) — US$21.69 (2025)
• Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) — US$21.75 (2025)
• GDP deflator (base year varies by country) — 497.42 (2025)
• Inflation, GDP deflator (annual % growth) — 11.94% (2025)
• Inflation, GDP deflator, linked series (annual % growth) — 11.94% (2025)
• GDP deflator, linked series (base year varies by country) — 497.42 (2025)
• Domestic credit to private sector by banks (% of GDP) — 6.68% (2025)
• Broad money (current LCU) — 4.55 billion (2025)
• Broad money (% of GDP)

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 São Tomé and Principe's domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP)?

7.82% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 3.27 percentage points from 4.55% in 1995. The highest value was 41% in 2012 and the lowest 2.85% in 1997.

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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