Business & Markets · Credit to private sector · Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone’s credit to private sector rose to 5.5% of GDP in 2025.
5.5% of GDP
2025
Up 1.5 pp from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
5.5% of GDP
What it is. This measure adds up the loans and similar claims that banks and other financial institutions hold on households and private firms, and divides the total by the size of the economy. It shows how far the formal financial system funds private activity. Lending to government is outside it, as are informal loans from family, traders and savings groups.
Neither way is good in itself. Neither a low nor a high ratio is good in itself. A low ratio can reflect a shallow financial system or cautious lenders, while a high one can mean households and firms are well financed or heavily indebted. The latest figure, for 2025, is 5.5% of GDP, up from 4% of GDP a year earlier, a rise of 1.5 percentage points. Since 2016 the lowest reading was 3.2% of GDP in 2023, and the 2025 figure is the highest in that span.
Why it matters. At 5.5% of GDP, formal lending to the private sector is small next to the size of the economy. Most households and firms in Sierra Leone therefore fund purchases, stock and expansion from their own savings, family networks or informal lenders. The recent rise suggests bank credit is reaching a few more borrowers, and the next annual reading will show whether it continues from the 2023 low.
| Period | Credit to private sector · Sierra Leone |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 3.5% of GDP |
| 2017 | 3.3% of GDP |
| 2018 | 3.6% of GDP |
| 2019 | 3.9% of GDP |
| 2020 | 3.6% of GDP |
| 2021 | 4.2% of GDP |
| 2022 | 3.5% of GDP |
| 2023 | 3.2% of GDP |
| 2024 | 4% of GDP |
| 2025 | 5.5% 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, Sierra Leone, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/business/private-sector-credit/sierra-leone
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
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.