World: Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, World's interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %) rose 0.27 percentage points on 2018 (from 5.71% to 5.98%).

Across the 14 yearly changes before that (2005 to 2018), the average change was −0.06 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.17 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 standard deviations above 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 0.34 percentage points in 2017 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.37 percentage points in 2018. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 19% 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.

What this measures

Interest rate spread is the interest rate charged by banks on loans to private sector customers minus the interest rate paid by commercial or similar banks for demand, time, or savings deposits. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

Limitations: Countries use a variety of reporting formats, sample designs, interest compounding formulas, averaging methods, and data presentations for indices and other data series on interest rates. The IMF's Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual does not provide guidelines beyond the general recommendation that such data should reflect market prices and effective (rather than nominal) interest rates and should be representative of the financial assets and markets to be covered. For more information, please see http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/mfs/manual/index.htm.

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

All 16 values

Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %) in nearby economies

• Algeria — 6.25% (2025)
• Bahrain — 4.17% (2015)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 5.13% (2024)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 5.2% (2016)
• Iraq — 7.44% (2015)
• Israel — 2.52% (2022)
• Jordan — 2.62% (2025)
• Kuwait — 2.41% (2025)
• Lebanon — 0.82% (2019)

More financial sector data for World

• Domestic credit to private sector by banks (% of GDP) — 91.32% (2024)
• Monetary sector credit to private sector (% of GDP) — 90.64% (2024)
• Broad money (% of GDP) — 135.66% (2024)
• Claims on central government, etc. (% of GDP) — 39.8% (2024)
• Inflation, GDP deflator (annual % growth) — 3.33% (2025)
• Market capitalization of listed domestic companies (current US$) — US$141.3 trillion (2025)
• Market capitalization of listed domestic companies (% of GDP) — 148.54% (2025)
• Listed domestic companies, total — 53,087 (2025)
• Stocks traded, total value (current US$) — US$149.98 trillion (2025)

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Questions people ask

What is World's interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %)?

5.98% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2004?

It is down 0.53 percentage points from 6.51% in 2004. The highest value was 6.54% in 2005 and the lowest 5.71% in 2018.

Is the latest change in interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %) unusual for World?

In 2019, World's interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %) rose 0.27 percentage points on 2018 (from 5.71% to 5.98%). Across the 14 yearly changes before that (2005 to 2018), the average change was −0.06 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.17 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Where does this data come from?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator FR.INR.LNDP, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF) 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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