Business & Markets · Credit to private sector · South Sudan
South Sudan’s credit to private sector fell to 3.2% of GDP in 2025.
3.2% of GDP
2025
Down 2.5 pp from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
3.2% of GDP
What it is. This measure adds up the loans and other claims that banks and similar institutions hold on private firms and households, then divides the total by GDP. It shows how much formal finance reaches the private economy relative to its size. Credit to the government is excluded, and so is lending from informal sources such as family networks and moneylenders. The ratio also falls whenever national output grows faster than lending, including output growth that comes from rising prices.
Neither way is good in itself. A higher ratio can mean firms and households have more financing for investment and trade, while very rapid growth in lending can pile up bad loans. A lower ratio can reflect cautious banks or weak demand for borrowing, and it can also mean less debt risk in the system. The latest figure is 3.2% of GDP in 2025, down from 5.8% of GDP a year earlier, a fall of 2.5 percentage points. Since 2016 the range runs from 1.5% of GDP in 2018 to 5.8% of GDP in 2024, so the 2024 reading sat at the top of that range. The 2025 figure is below the midpoint of the span.
Why it matters. At 3.2% of GDP, formal lending to the private sector is small relative to the South Sudanese economy. Most businesses and households therefore finance trade, stock and school fees from their own cash, savings or informal borrowing. The drop from 5.8% of GDP means the formal channel carries less of that load than it did in 2024. The next annual reading will show whether lending recovers or stays near this level.
| Period | Credit to private sector · South Sudan |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 4.4% of GDP |
| 2017 | 1.7% of GDP |
| 2018 | 1.5% of GDP |
| 2019 | 1.7% of GDP |
| 2020 | 1.9% of GDP |
| 2021 | 2.8% of GDP |
| 2022 | 3% of GDP |
| 2023 | 3% of GDP |
| 2024 | 5.8% of GDP |
| 2025 | 3.2% 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, South Sudan, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/business/private-sector-credit/south-sudan
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.