South Asia: Broad money (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, South Asia's broad money (% of GDP) fell 4.82 percentage points on 2020 (from 84.37% to 79.55%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1991 to 2020), the average change was +1.48 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.49 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 10.06 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 4.82 percentage points in 2021. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2012 to 2021 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 17% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

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

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Broad money is the sum of all liquid financial instruments held by money-holding sectors that are widely accepted in an economy as a medium of exchange, plus those that can be converted into a medium of exchange at short notice at, or close to, their full nominal value. 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.

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

All 62 values

Broad money (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 37.51% (2020)
• Algeria — 75.15% (2025)
• Bahrain — 82.13% (2015)
• Djibouti — 71.07% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 77.35% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 79.14% (2016)
• Iraq — 47.87% (2024)
• Israel — 103.73% (2025)
• Jordan — 105.08% (2025)
• Kuwait — 87.43% (2025)
• Lebanon — 260.62% (2017)
• Libya — 64.41% (2021)

More financial sector data for South Asia

• Domestic credit to private sector by banks (% of GDP) — 43.52% (2025)
• Monetary sector credit to private sector (% of GDP) — 43.53% (2025)
• Claims on central government, etc. (% of GDP) — 19.74% (2025)
• Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP) — 43.54% (2025)
• Inflation, GDP deflator (annual % growth) — 3.22% (2025)
• Inflation, consumer prices (annual % growth) — 3.1% (2025)
• Listed domestic companies, total — 9,158 (2025)
• Stocks traded, turnover ratio of domestic shares (%) — 64% (2024)
• Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is South Asia's broad money (% of GDP)?

79.55% in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1960?

It is up 57.66 percentage points from 21.89% in 1960. The highest value was 84.37% in 2020 and the lowest 19.26% in 1967.

Is the latest change in broad money (% of GDP) unusual for South Asia?

In 2021, South Asia's broad money (% of GDP) fell 4.82 percentage points on 2020 (from 84.37% to 79.55%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1991 to 2020), the average change was +1.48 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.49 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator FM.LBL.BMNY.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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