The gap between lending and deposit rates answers a different question from the lending rate itself. The World Bank World Development Indicators series Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %), code FR.INR.LNDP, subtracts the deposit rate paid by commercial or similar banks from the lending rate charged to private-sector customers. Because it is a difference between two percentages, this article describes the result in percentage points.
The latest non-null file contains 140 country or area observations, but their reference years range from 1988 to 2025. For a same-year comparison, the map, rankings and summary statistics use only the 65 observations dated 2025. Their unweighted median is 5.75 percentage points and the mean is 6.93 points. The Republic of Korea is 1.46 points.
Table of Contents
The spread is not the same number as the lending rate
A lending rate tells us the reported rate charged on bank credit. The spread asks how far that rate sits above the reported deposit rate. If a lending rate were 8% and the deposit rate 3%, the spread would be 5 percentage points. A country can therefore have a relatively high lending rate but a moderate spread when deposit rates are also high, or a modest lending rate but a wider spread when deposit rates are low.
The spread is also not a bank profit margin. Bank profitability depends on funding structure, fees, operating expenses, credit losses, capital requirements and many other items. Nor is this indicator identical to net interest margin, which is generally constructed from interest income and expense relative to an asset base. FR.INR.LNDP is specifically a difference between reported lending and deposit interest-rate series.
The 2025 median is 5.75 percentage points
Giving each of the 65 same-year observations equal weight, the median is 5.75 points and the simple mean is 6.93 points. The first quartile is 3.30 and the third quartile is 7.38, so the middle half lies roughly between those two values. The mean is above the median because a small number of very large spreads stretch the upper tail.
| 2025 spread band | Countries | Share of 65 |
|---|---|---|
| Below 0 pp | 1 | 1.5% |
| 0–<2 pp | 2 | 3.1% |
| 2–<5 pp | 23 | 35.4% |
| 5–<10 pp | 31 | 47.7% |
| 10–<20 pp | 6 | 9.2% |
| 20 pp or more | 2 | 3.1% |
The largest group lies between 5 and 10 percentage points, followed by the 2-to-5-point range. Only two observations are at or above 20 points, while one is below zero. That shape is why the median is a useful companion to the mean: it is less influenced by the two extreme high values.
Madagascar and Zimbabwe are clear upper-end outliers in 2025
| Country | 2025 interest-rate spread |
|---|---|
| Madagascar | 47.92 pp |
| Zimbabwe | 40.12 pp |
| Gambia, The | 15.50 pp |
| Sierra Leone | 14.40 pp |
| South Sudan | 14.21 pp |
| Mozambique | 11.76 pp |
| Angola | 11.39 pp |
| Argentina | 11.16 pp |
| Timor-Leste | 9.95 pp |
| Ukraine | 9.75 pp |
Madagascar records 47.92 points and Zimbabwe 40.12, far above the rest of the same-year set. The Gambia, Sierra Leone and South Sudan are in the mid-teens, while Mozambique, Angola and Argentina exceed 10 points. These figures say that the reported lending and deposit rates are far apart; they do not say that banks keep the entire difference as profit.
A wide spread can coexist with inflation, credit risk, limited banking competition, high operating costs or other macro-financial conditions, but this one series cannot identify the cause. Country-specific explanations require additional evidence on policy rates, inflation, bank funding, asset quality, competition and the composition of the underlying rate series.
Korea is near the low end of the 2025 same-year set
| Country | 2025 interest-rate spread |
|---|---|
| Bangladesh | -0.73 pp |
| Qatar | 0.07 pp |
| Korea, Rep. | 1.46 pp |
| Hungary | 2.30 pp |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2.33 pp |
| Malaysia | 2.40 pp |
| Kuwait | 2.41 pp |
| Jordan | 2.62 pp |
| Norway | 2.67 pp |
| North Macedonia | 2.69 pp |
The Republic of Korea is 1.46 points, the third-lowest observation in the synchronized 65-country set. Bangladesh is -0.73 and Qatar 0.07. A negative value should not be silently replaced with zero. It indicates that the reported deposit-rate series exceeded the lending-rate series for that observation, subject to the comparability limits in the World Bank metadata.
A small spread does not by itself mean that credit is cheap for households or businesses. For the actual borrowing level, the lending-rate series is the more direct macro indicator, and product-level annual percentage rates are more relevant for individual mortgages, consumer loans or business facilities. The spread is best treated as a measure of rate structure rather than a universal score for banking quality.
The 140 latest observations cannot be treated as one 2025 ranking
| Reference year | Latest non-null observations |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 65 |
| 2024 | 19 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2022 | 4 |
| 2021 | 11 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 5 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2017 | 6 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2013 | 2 |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2006 | 2 |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 1998 | 1 |
| 1988 | 1 |
Only 65 of the 140 latest observations are dated 2025; the other 75 come from earlier years. There are 19 from 2024 and 11 from 2021, with several series much older. The United Kingdom is dated 1998 in this latest-value file, Japan and Canada 2017, and Australia 2019. Combining them with 2025 Korea or Argentina would present different financial periods as if they were simultaneous.
| Country | Latest observation year | Interest-rate spread |
|---|---|---|
| Korea, Rep. | 2025 | 1.46 pp |
| Mexico | 2025 | 6.24 pp |
| Indonesia | 2025 | 3.09 pp |
| South Africa | 2025 | 3.27 pp |
| Argentina | 2025 | 11.16 pp |
| Colombia | 2025 | 5.35 pp |
| Ukraine | 2025 | 9.75 pp |
| China | 2024 | 2.85 pp |
| Brazil | 2024 | 32.52 pp |
| Russian Federation | 2024 | 2.47 pp |
| Australia | 2019 | 3.54 pp |
| Japan | 2017 | 0.67 pp |
| Canada | 2017 | 2.60 pp |
| United Kingdom | 1998 | 2.75 pp |
China, Brazil and Russia are represented by 2024 latest observations, while Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia and Ukraine are dated 2025. The synchronized map intentionally leaves countries without a 2025 observation outside the ranking rather than filling missing values with zero or carrying an older observation forward.
Small cross-country differences should be interpreted cautiously
The World Bank metadata explicitly warns that the terms and conditions attached to lending and deposit rates differ across countries, limiting comparability. Reporting formats, sample designs, compounding conventions, averaging methods and the financial products represented can vary. It is therefore more defensible to focus on broad gaps—such as under 2 points, 2–5, 5–10, or above 10—than to treat tiny decimal differences as a precise league table.
The spread also needs to be separated from other financial-sector indicators. A policy rate is a central-bank monetary-policy rate; a real interest rate adjusts a lending rate for inflation; a risk premium on lending compares a lending rate with a treasury-bill rate; and net interest margin is an income-based banking ratio. Similar terminology does not make these measures interchangeable.
Source and calculation method
Country values come from the World Bank WDI FR.INR.LNDP series and its official metadata. The World Bank identifies the IMF International Financial Statistics database as the source and defines the indicator as the lending rate charged to private-sector customers minus the deposit rate paid by commercial or similar banks on demand, time or savings deposits.
The analysis first keeps the 140 latest non-null country or area observations available in the supplied World Bank extract. The 2025 map, ranking, quartiles, mean and median then use only the 65 rows actually dated 2025. Every country receives equal weight; there is no GDP, population, bank-asset or loan-balance weighting, and older observations are not relabeled as 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Korea’s interest-rate spread in 2025?
The Republic of Korea is 1.46 percentage points in the 2025 World Bank WDI FR.INR.LNDP observation, below the 65-country median of 5.75 points.
Is the interest-rate spread the same as the lending rate?
No. The lending rate is the reported rate charged on loans, while the spread subtracts the reported deposit rate from the lending rate.
Does a wider spread mean banks earn that much profit?
No. The spread is a difference between two rate series, not a bank profit margin. Funding costs, fees, operating expenses and credit losses also matter.
Why are some major economies missing from the 2025 map?
Their retained latest observation is from another year or is absent from this extract. The synchronized comparison keeps only rows actually dated 2025.
Related Articles
These published Green Map pages provide directly related banking and World Bank data context.
- Bank Noninterest Income Share by Country
- World Bank Global Economic Monitor Guide
- World Bank Data Catalog Licensing Guide
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