Bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises as a share of GDP compares credit extended by domestic deposit-taking banks to government and state-owned enterprises with annual economic output. In World Bank Global Financial Development indicator GFDD.EI.08, 147 countries and areas have observations dated 2020. Their median is 12.23% of GDP, the unweighted mean is 15.04%, and Korea records 9.00%. This is not the government-debt ratio and it is not the same as net claims on central government.
Table of Contents
What GFDD.EI.08 measures
The World Bank defines GFDD.EI.08 as the ratio between credit by domestic money banks to government and state-owned enterprises and GDP. The underlying raw data come from the IMF International Financial Statistics database. The World Bank metadata describes a calculation that combines the relevant IFS credit items and divides them by GDP in local currency. The numerator is therefore a bank-credit balance linked to government and state-owned enterprises, while the denominator is one year of economic output.
A value of 20% means that the measured credit balance is about one-fifth of annual GDP. It does not mean the government borrowed 20% of GDP during that year. Credit can remain outstanding across years, whereas GDP is a flow of production measured over one year. The ratio is best used to compare the scale of domestic-bank exposure to government and state-owned enterprises relative to the size of each economy.
It is not the government-debt ratio or net claims on central government
Government debt is a broader fiscal concept covering contractual liabilities under a different statistical framework. GFDD.EI.08 looks only at credit from domestic money banks to government and state-owned enterprises. Government bonds held by other investors, external borrowing, and other liabilities can fall outside this numerator, so the two ratios should not be treated as substitutes.
The indicator also differs from World Bank measures of claims on central government net of deposits. A net-claims series subtracts government deposits and focuses on central government. GFDD.EI.08 covers bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises and is not described as the same net position. Similar wording therefore hides materially different numerators and accounting treatment.
The 2020 median is 12.23% of GDP
Across the 147 observations dated 2020, the unweighted median is 12.23% and the simple mean is 15.04%. The first quartile is 6.75% and the third quartile is 20.12%. The mean sits above the median because a small upper group, led by Egypt, Brazil, and Japan, reaches above 50% of GDP. These are equal-weight country summaries, not a GDP-weighted global ratio.
| 2020 ratio | Countries/areas |
|---|---|
| Below 5% | 25 |
| 5% to under 10% | 32 |
| 10% to under 20% | 53 |
| 20% to under 30% | 22 |
| 30% to under 50% | 12 |
| 50% or more | 3 |
The largest class is 10% to under 20%, with 53 observations. Another 32 fall between 5% and 10%, and 25 are below 5%. Only 15 observations are at or above 30%, and just three exceed 50%. The map therefore has a broad middle concentrated around the low teens, plus a relatively small upper tail.
Egypt, Brazil, and Japan are above 50%
Egypt is the highest 2020 observation at 62.42%, closely followed by Brazil at 61.88%. Japan is third at 52.04%. Algeria records 45.66%, the United Arab Emirates 44.66%, Jordan 41.55%, and Italy 40.88%. Singapore, China, and Libya complete the top ten at 36.52%, 35.49%, and 33.16% respectively.
| Country or area | Bank credit to government/SOEs / GDP |
|---|---|
| Egypt, Arab Rep. | 62.42% |
| Brazil | 61.88% |
| Japan | 52.04% |
| Algeria | 45.66% |
| United Arab Emirates | 44.66% |
| Jordan | 41.55% |
| Italy | 40.88% |
| Singapore | 36.52% |
| China | 35.49% |
| Libya | 33.16% |
A high ratio shows that domestic-bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises is large relative to GDP. It does not by itself establish high fiscal risk or weak bank balance sheets. Risk depends on the composition of the claims, maturity, currency, guarantees, bank capital and liquidity, government deposits, and the broader fiscal position. GFDD.EI.08 is a scale-and-structure indicator, not a credit-risk score.
Very low ratios do not mean government debt is negligible
| Country or area | Bank credit to government/SOEs / GDP |
|---|---|
| Solomon Islands | 0.51% |
| Comoros | 0.74% |
| Samoa | 1.01% |
| Micronesia, Fed. Sts. | 1.26% |
| Ecuador | 1.39% |
| Bolivia | 1.81% |
| Kyrgyz Republic | 1.90% |
| Vanuatu | 1.92% |
| Paraguay | 1.96% |
| Sudan | 2.06% |
At the bottom of the 2020 distribution, the Solomon Islands records 0.51%, Comoros 0.74%, Samoa 1.01%, and the Federated States of Micronesia 1.26%. These values show only that domestic-money-bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises is small relative to GDP. Governments can finance themselves through securities markets, external creditors, or nonbank institutions, so a low GFDD.EI.08 ratio is not a low-debt ranking.
East Asia shows large differences within the same region
Among major East Asian economies in 2020, Japan records 52.04%, China 35.49%, and Korea 9.00%. In Southeast Asia, Singapore is 36.52%, Malaysia 24.81%, Thailand 18.98%, the Philippines 18.15%, Viet Nam 15.05%, and Indonesia 10.98%. Geographic proximity clearly does not imply a similar bank-credit structure.
The differences can be a useful starting point for studying public-enterprise roles, government funding channels, and banking-system structure. The indicator itself does not identify which of those factors caused each country’s ratio, so the map should be used to locate contrasts rather than to assign causal explanations.
Several North African and Middle Eastern observations are high
Egypt at 62.42%, Algeria at 45.66%, the United Arab Emirates at 44.66%, Jordan at 41.55%, Morocco at 32.16%, and Tunisia at 22.33% create a visible cluster of relatively high 2020 observations across parts of North Africa and the Middle East. The region is not uniform, but multiple values above 30% stand out on the map.
South America is especially heterogeneous. Brazil is at 61.88%, while Colombia is 10.30%, Chile 9.63%, Peru 5.82%, Uruguay 4.13%, Paraguay 1.96%, Bolivia 1.81%, and Ecuador 1.39%. A continental average would hide much of the cross-country structure visible in the map.
Korea and selected major economies
| Country | Latest observation year | Share of GDP |
|---|---|---|
| Korea, Rep. | 2020 | 9.00% |
| Japan | 2020 | 52.04% |
| China | 2020 | 35.49% |
| United States | 2020 | 19.56% |
| Germany | 2020 | 12.25% |
| France | 2020 | 17.79% |
| United Kingdom | 2020 | 4.45% |
| India | 2020 | 22.79% |
| Indonesia | 2020 | 10.98% |
| Brazil | 2020 | 61.88% |
| Mexico | 2020 | 19.95% |
| Australia | 2020 | 20.53% |
| South Africa | 2020 | 16.94% |
| Singapore | 2020 | 36.52% |
| Canada | 2008 | 17.17% |
| Switzerland | 2016 | 4.01% |
| Saudi Arabia | 2017 | 12.07% |
Korea’s 2020 value of 9.00% is below the same-year median of 12.23%. It is far below Japan and China and also below the United States, Germany, and France in this dataset. That comparison should not be converted into a statement that Korea has less total government debt, because this indicator covers only a specific bank-credit channel.
The 175 latest observations span 1998–2020
The latest non-null observation for each country or area produces 175 rows, but the reference years are mixed. There are 147 observations dated 2020 and 11 dated 2019. The remaining 17 observations are from 1998 through 2018. Canada’s latest value in this file is from 2008, Switzerland’s from 2016, and Saudi Arabia’s from 2017.
For that reason, the map, median, mean, distribution, and high/low rankings in this article use only the 147 observations that share the 2020 reference year. Mixing much older latest values into a precise current ranking would confuse time differences with structural differences between countries.
How to use the map
The map is useful for locating countries where domestic-bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises is unusually large or small relative to GDP and for spotting sharp differences between neighbors. A second step is to compare the pattern with government debt, net claims on central government, bank assets, and private-sector credit. Those related indicators help separate the public-sector part of bank balance sheets from broader financial depth.
The ratio should not be used alone to rate sovereign credit quality, predict interest rates, or judge bank safety. It identifies the scale of a particular financial relationship, not the full fiscal or banking balance sheet.
Source and calculation basis
The source is World Bank Global Financial Development indicator GFDD.EI.08, Credit to government and state owned enterprises to GDP (%). World Bank metadata defines it as credit by domestic money banks to government and state-owned enterprises divided by GDP and identifies the IMF International Financial Statistics database as the underlying source.
The latest-value file contains 175 non-null country or area observations, but same-year statistics in this article use only the 147 observations dated 2020. The median of 12.23%, mean of 15.04%, first quartile of 6.75%, third quartile of 20.12%, and the high/low rankings were recalculated directly from that 2020 subset. Missing observations were not converted to zero, and older observations were not imputed as 2020 values.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises to GDP measure?
It compares credit extended by domestic money banks to government and state-owned enterprises with annual GDP. It is not the government’s total debt ratio.
What was Korea’s value in 2020?
Korea’s GFDD.EI.08 observation for 2020 is about 9.00% of GDP, compared with a 12.23% median across the 147 same-year observations.
Is this the same as net claims on central government?
No. Net-claims indicators subtract government deposits and focus on central government. GFDD.EI.08 measures domestic-bank credit to government and state-owned enterprises under a different numerator and accounting treatment.
Does a higher ratio automatically mean higher fiscal risk?
No. It shows a larger bank-credit exposure relative to GDP. Fiscal and banking risk also depends on debt structure, maturity, currency, guarantees, government deposits, bank capital, liquidity, and other balance-sheet information.
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