Interest Rate Spread - Ranking 1979

The 2025 interest rate spread data reveals a stark global divide in financial intermediation efficiency. The top of the ranking is dominated by economies with chronic macroeconomic instability or structural banking risks: Zimbabwe, with a staggering spread of 159.5905 percentage points, reflects hyperinflationary pressures and severe currency distrust, while Madagascar’s 40.0292-point spread signals high default risk and limited competition in a shallow financial system. Brazil’s 33.9228-point spread similarly points to elevated sovereign risk and high operational costs for lenders. At the opposite end, Bangladesh’s near-zero spread of 0.7868 percent indicates a heavily subsidized or state-directed banking sector where lending rates are artificially compressed, suppressing both risk pricing and deposit incentives. This bottom tier typically features tightly regulated or oligopolistic systems that minimize volatility but may distort capital allocation. As digital finance and mobile banking expand in high-spread economies, increased competition and lower transaction costs could compress spreads, potentially reshuffling the leaderboard over the next decade.