Interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)
Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income): Interest rate spread was 6.3% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income), 1988–2025
Source: International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in lending rate minus deposit rate, %.
Analysis
In 2025, interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) stood at 6.3%.
That represents a change of up 1.1% on the previous year and down 15.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) peaked at 15.0% in 1995 and was at its lowest, 6.0%, in 2023.
That places Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) 14th out of 40 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 38 years of available data.
Interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income), year by year
| Year | lending rate minus deposit rate, % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 6.7% | — |
| 1989 | 7.3% | +10.2% |
| 1990 | 7.7% | +5.2% |
| 1991 | 7.4% | -3.4% |
| 1992 | 8.4% | +13.1% |
| 1993 | 8.0% | -5.6% |
| 1994 | 9.2% | +15.5% |
| 1995 | 15.0% | +63.4% |
| 1996 | 10.1% | -32.7% |
| 1997 | 9.3% | -8.0% |
| 1998 | 11.0% | +18.6% |
| 1999 | 10.5% | -4.5% |
| 2000 | 8.8% | -16.4% |
| 2001 | 8.5% | -3.6% |
| 2002 | 8.8% | +3.3% |
| 2003 | 9.0% | +2.7% |
| 2004 | 7.7% | -14.3% |
| 2005 | 7.9% | +3.0% |
| 2006 | 7.9% | -0.9% |
| 2007 | 7.4% | -6.3% |
| 2008 | 7.4% | +0.9% |
| 2009 | 7.7% | +3.8% |
| 2010 | 7.4% | -4.1% |
| 2011 | 7.8% | +5.1% |
| 2012 | 8.1% | +4.2% |
| 2013 | 8.0% | -1.4% |
| 2014 | 7.1% | -10.6% |
| 2015 | 7.5% | +4.3% |
| 2016 | 7.6% | +1.6% |
| 2017 | 7.5% | -1.4% |
| 2018 | 7.1% | -4.6% |
| 2019 | 7.1% | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 6.6% | -7.9% |
| 2021 | 7.3% | +10.8% |
| 2022 | 6.8% | -6.3% |
| 2023 | 6.0% | -11.4% |
| 2024 | 6.2% | +2.8% |
| 2025 | 6.3% | +1.1% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | +63.4% | 9.2% | 15.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 7.0% | 6.7% | 7.3% | 2 |
| 1990s | 9.7% | 7.4% | 15.0% | 10 |
| 2000s | 8.1% | 7.4% | 9.0% | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.5% | 7.1% | 8.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 6.5% | 6.0% | 7.3% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)
- 11 South Sudan 14.2% compare
- 12 Somalia 13.0%
- 13 Micronesia, Federated States of 12.6% compare
- 14 Mozambique 11.8% compare
- 15 Angola 11.4% compare
- 16 Mauritania 11.3% compare
- 17 Argentina 11.2% compare
More financial sector data for Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)
- Net migration -462,147 (2025)
- Domestic credit to private sector by banks 47.3% (2025)
- Total reserves in months of imports 6.7 (2025)
- Monetary Sector credit to private sector 47.3% (2025)
- Broad money 73.6% (2025)
- Claims on central government, etc. 35.1% (2025)
- Total reserves in months of imports, per capita 0 units per person (2025)
- Total reserves in months of imports, annual growth rate 3.67 % change on previous year (2025)
- Total reserves in months of imports, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Domestic credit to private sector 50.1% (2025)
All data for Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) →
Frequently asked questions
- What is interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- Interest rate spread in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) was 6.3% in 2025, according to International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest interest rate spread recorded in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- The highest recorded value was 15.0% in 1995.
- What is the lowest interest rate spread recorded in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- The lowest recorded value was 6.0% in 2023.
- How does Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) rank for interest rate spread?
- Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) ranks 14th out of 40 groups with data for 2025.
- Is interest rate spread rising or falling in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- Over the last ten years it is down 15.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) data come from?
- The figures come from International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 38 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
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.