DR Congo’s lending interest rate rose to 24.1% in 2025.

Neither way is good in itself. A higher rate costs borrowers more and pays lenders more for risk, while a lower rate eases borrowing and gives banks a thinner margin against defaults and currency swings. Either direction has winners and losers. The latest figure is 24.1% in January 2025, up slightly from 24% a year earlier, a rise of 0.06 percentage points. Since 2016 the rate has ranged from a low of 19% in January 2016 to a high of 26.7% in January 2019. The current level sits in the upper part of that range and has moved very little over the last year.

Why it matters. At 24.1% a year, a loan from a Congolese bank is expensive for a household or small firm, which keeps borrowing for stock, vehicles or building work to projects that earn a high return quickly. Banks price in the risks of lending in this economy, and businesses that need credit carry that cost in their prices. For the state, a rate this high in the private market shows how costly it is for local firms to finance growth through the banking system.