Business & Markets · Credit to private sector · Rwanda
Rwanda’s credit to private sector rose to 22.1% of GDP in 2025.
22.1% of GDP
2025
Up 0.76 pp from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
22.1% of GDP
What it is. Credit to the private sector adds up the loans and similar claims that banks and other financial institutions hold on households and firms, then divides the total by the size of the economy. It is a stock of lending outstanding, set against a year of output. It covers lending to government and state bodies only where they are excluded, and it leaves out money that firms raise from shareholders or borrow directly from abroad.
Neither way is good in itself. A higher ratio can mean deeper finance and easier access to loans for businesses and families, but it also means more debt that has to be repaid. A lower ratio can mean lighter debt burdens, but it can also mean that borrowers find money hard to get. The latest figure is 22.1% of GDP for 2025, up from 21.3% a year earlier, a rise of 0.76 percentage points. Since 2016 the range runs from 20.7% of GDP in 2016 to 25% of GDP in 2021, so the current level sits in the lower part of that range.
Why it matters. At 22.1% of GDP, private borrowing in Rwanda is below the 2021 high of 25% of GDP. Firms and households therefore carry less debt relative to output than they did at that peak. The recent rise from 21.3% of GDP suggests that lending is growing a little faster than the economy. Lenders and the central bank can check the next annual reading to see whether that continues.
| Period | Credit to private sector · Rwanda |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 20.7% of GDP |
| 2017 | 20.8% of GDP |
| 2018 | 21.4% of GDP |
| 2019 | 21.1% of GDP |
| 2020 | 24.3% of GDP |
| 2021 | 25% of GDP |
| 2022 | 22.1% of GDP |
| 2023 | 21.6% of GDP |
| 2024 | 21.3% of GDP |
| 2025 | 22.1% of GDP |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Credit to private sector, Rwanda, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/business/private-sector-credit/rwanda
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
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Methodology
Domestic credit to the private sector as a share of GDP. Unit: % of GDP.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series FS.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.