São Tomé and Principe - Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %)

The value for Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %) in São Tomé and Principe was 15.85 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 19 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 22.42 in 2002 and a minimum value of 13.28 in 2012.

Definition: 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.

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and data files.

See also:

Year Value
2001 22.00
2002 22.42
2003 20.10
2004 18.28
2005 18.96
2006 18.55
2007 19.65
2008 19.65
2009 19.19
2010 17.76
2011 14.59
2012 13.28
2013 13.33
2014 14.25
2015 16.41
2016 15.45
2017 15.44
2018 16.08
2019 15.68
2020 15.85

Development Relevance: Both banking and financial systems enhance growth, the main factor in poverty reduction. At low levels of economic development commercial banks tend to dominate the financial system, while at higher levels domestic stock markets tend to become more active and efficient. The size and mobility of international capital flows make it increasingly important to monitor the strength of financial systems. Robust financial systems can increase economic activity and welfare, but instability can disrupt financial activity and impose widespread costs on the economy.

Limitations and Exceptions: 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.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The interest rate spread - the margin between the cost of mobilizing liabilities and the earnings on assets - measures financial sector efficiency in intermediation. A narrow spread means low transaction costs, which reduces the cost of funds for investment, crucial to economic growth.

Aggregation method: Median

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Financial Sector Indicators

Sub-Topic: Interest rates