Somalia’s credit to private sector rose to 5.4% of GDP in 2024.

Neither way is good in itself. A higher share can mean finance is reaching businesses and households, and it can also mean debt is building up faster than incomes, so the direction alone cannot settle whether things are going well. The latest figure is 5.4% of GDP for 2024, up from 5.1% of GDP a year earlier, a rise of 0.36 percentage points. Since 1987 the range runs from a low of 2.3% of GDP in 2018 to a high of 14.8% of GDP in 1989. Today's level sits in the lower part of that range, far below the 1989 peak.

Why it matters. At 5.4% of GDP, formal lending covers a small part of the economy, so most Somali firms and households depend on their own savings or remittances to start or expand a business. Banks lend little relative to national output, which limits how quickly small firms can borrow to invest. The climb from the 2018 low shows formal credit slowly gaining ground, and the next annual figure will show whether that continues.