Risk premium on lending (lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %) in Barbados
Barbados: Risk premium on lending (lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %) was 7.5% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Risk premium on lending in Barbados, 1981–2022
Source: International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for risk premium on lending in Barbados is 7.5%, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 42 years on record.
That represents a change of up 45.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, risk premium on lending in Barbados peaked at 7.5% in 2019 and was at its lowest, 0.1%, in 1982.
That places Barbados 16th out of 86 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 42 years of available data.
Risk premium on lending (lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %) in Barbados, year by year
| Year | lending rate minus treasury bill rate, % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 2.0% | — |
| 1982 | 0.1% | -93.6% |
| 1983 | 4.3% | +3328.9% |
| 1984 | 4.6% | +5.4% |
| 1985 | 5.0% | +9.8% |
| 1986 | 4.6% | -7.6% |
| 1987 | 3.9% | -15.8% |
| 1988 | 4.7% | +19.8% |
| 1989 | 5.0% | +7.1% |
| 1990 | 4.3% | -13.3% |
| 1991 | 3.1% | -29.3% |
| 1992 | 2.7% | -13.4% |
| 1993 | 3.5% | +30.8% |
| 1994 | 1.8% | -47.6% |
| 1995 | 2.0% | +9.3% |
| 1996 | 3.1% | +58.0% |
| 1997 | 6.2% | +97.9% |
| 1998 | 4.1% | -33.5% |
| 1999 | 3.6% | -13.9% |
| 2000 | 4.9% | +37.5% |
| 2001 | 6.4% | +31.6% |
| 2002 | 6.4% | -0.6% |
| 2003 | 7.1% | +10.7% |
| 2004 | 7.1% | +0.6% |
| 2005 | 4.5% | -36.3% |
| 2006 | 4.3% | -4.7% |
| 2007 | 5.1% | +18.0% |
| 2008 | 5.8% | +14.2% |
| 2009 | 5.4% | -6.7% |
| 2010 | 5.4% | -0.9% |
| 2011 | 5.3% | -1.9% |
| 2012 | 5.2% | -1.8% |
| 2013 | 5.3% | +2.0% |
| 2014 | 5.2% | -2.3% |
| 2015 | 5.2% | +1.0% |
| 2016 | 4.7% | -9.4% |
| 2017 | 4.7% | +0.1% |
| 2018 | 4.9% | +3.6% |
| 2019 | 7.5% | +53.6% |
| 2020 | 7.5% | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 7.5% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 7.5% | +0.0% |
Barbados compared with similar countries
- Barbados's 7.5% is above the median for high income countries, which is 2.9%, 2.6× the median. (26 countries reporting)
- Barbados's 7.5% is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 5.9%, 1.3× the median. (16 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Risk premium on lending (lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %) in Barbados 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | +3328.9% | 0.1% | 4.3% |
| 1997 | +97.9% | 3.1% | 6.2% |
| 1982 | -93.6% | 2.0% | 0.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 3.8% | 0.1% | 5.0% | 9 |
| 1990s | 3.4% | 1.8% | 6.2% | 10 |
| 2000s | 5.7% | 4.3% | 7.1% | 10 |
| 2010s | 5.4% | 4.7% | 7.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 7.5% | 7.5% | 7.5% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Barbados
More financial sector data for Barbados
- Reserve position in the IMF, US dollar, annual growth rate 5.01 % change on previous year (2025)
- Reserve position in the IMF, US dollar, per unit of GDP 0.0022 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Reserve position in the IMF, US dollar, per capita 61.36 units per person (2025)
- Reserve position in the IMF, SDR, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Reserve position in the IMF, SDR, per unit of GDP 0.0016 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Reserve position in the IMF, SDR, per capita 44.81 units per person (2025)
- Reserve tranche position, US dollar, annual growth rate 5.01 % change on previous year (2025)
- Reserve tranche position, US dollar, per unit of GDP 0.0022 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Reserve tranche position, US dollar, per capita 61.36 units per person (2025)
- Reserve tranche position, SDR, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is risk premium on lending in Barbados?
- Risk premium on lending in Barbados was 7.5% in 2022, according to International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest risk premium on lending recorded in Barbados?
- The highest recorded value was 7.5% in 2019.
- What is the lowest risk premium on lending recorded in Barbados?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.1% in 1982.
- How does Barbados rank for risk premium on lending?
- Barbados ranks 16th out of 86 countries with data for 2022.
- Is risk premium on lending rising or falling in Barbados?
- Over the last ten years it is up 45.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Barbados data come from?
- The figures come from International Financial Statistics database, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Risk premium on lending (lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 42 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Risk premium on lending is the interest rate charged by banks on loans to private sector customers minus the "risk free" treasury bill interest rate at which short-term government securities are issued or traded in the market. In some countries this spread may be negative, indicating that the market considers its best corporate clients to be lower risk than the government. The terms and conditions attached to lending rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.