This article analyses the top countries in the world with the highest long-term interest rates from 1960 to 2020. The data sources are different. For the video, which shows data over the last 60 years, the data used are from OECD. The OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In the OECD calculation, 37 countries worldwide are taken into account. Thanks to the use of other databases, we will then go on to see in detail what the interest rates worldwide have been in recent years.
Long-term interest rates refer to government bonds maturing in ten years. Rates are mainly determined by the price charged by the lender, the risk from the borrower and the fall in the capital value. Long-term interest rates are generally averages of daily rates, measured as a percentage. These interest rates are implied by the prices at which the government bonds are traded on financial markets, not the interest rates at which the loans were issued. In all cases, they refer to bonds whose capital repayment is guaranteed by governments. Long-term interest rates are one of the determinants of business investment. Low long-term interest rates encourage investment in new equipment and high interest rates discourage it. Investment is, in turn, a major source of economic growth.
Top 15 Countries with Highest Long-term Interest Rates – 1960/2020
As of December 2020, the latest data available in the video, Costa Rica is the top OECD country for long-term (10-year) interest rates. In fact, the Central American country has a long-term interest rate percentage of more than 10% of the total. More precisely, 10.2%. In second place is South Africa, with a value of 9.79% and in third place Russia with 7.62%. Five OECD countries have a value of over 5%. In addition to those already mentioned, these include Mexico, India and Colombia.
If we look at data from 30 years earlier, in December 1990, what was the situation? In first place was South Africa, which in December 2020 is second, with a long-term interest rate of almost 16%. But in the top positions we no longer find Latin American countries, but rather European countries. Among them are Spain and Finland, which have an interest rate of over 13%. Spain, for example, has a rate of 14.54% and Finland 13.44%. In fourth place is New Zealand with 12.31%, then again a European country like Sweden with 12.21% and Australia with 11.96%. In general it is interesting to note that the fifteenth country in December 1990 was Germany with a value of 8.87%, In December 2020, despite the economic impact of the Coronavirus, the fifteenth country is New Zealand with 0.92%.
Top 15 Countries with Highest Long-term Interest Rates – 2021
In the video and in the upper part of the article we have seen the figures for 2020. But what are the figures for 2021? The most useful data for comparison is that of April 2021. In May 2021 and June 2021, there are some countries whose data is not yet public. In general, in April 2021 the country with the highest long-term interest rate (according to OECD) was South Africa. The percentage value of South Africa was about 10%. A value that, thanks to the data in the table, is tending to decrease in the last two months. In second place was Colombia with 7.19, followed by Mexico, India, Chile, Iceland, Hungary and Korea. These are the first nations to have an interest rate above 2% in April 2021.
Interest rates in the world – Updated to 2021
After looking at the OECD data, which analyses only a few countries (the data also refers to long-term interest rates), in this part of the article we will analyse the world’s top countries by interest rates. Reference rates are a tool used by central banks to implement monetary policy.
Worldwide, the country with the highest interest rate is Venezuela. As of March 2021, Venezuela’s interest rate was 58.67%. This is significantly higher than any other country. Behind Venezuela is Zimbabwe with 40%, followed by Argentina with 38%. These are the first three nations in the world with a value above 30%. Turkey, with a value of 19%, and Iran with 18% are also among the world’s top countries.
In the table it is possible to see both the data of the last available month and the previous month. In the case of Venezuela, for example, it can be seen that the latest figure of 58.67% is for March 2021, and the previous figure was 13 points lower. About 45%. This shows that in this country the variation of long-term interest rates is very “strong”.
For more interesting data on Venezuela, I refer you to this chart on the Tranding Economis website.
source: tradingeconomics.com
Countries with the Highest Deposit Interest Rates – 1981/2019
To add a final element to the analysis proposed in this article, I would like to show you data on the world’s top 15 nations by deposit interest rate. In this case the data in the video are from the World Bank, which takes into account all countries in the world.
What are deposit interest rates?
Deposit interest rate is the rate paid by commercial or similar banks for demand, time, or savings deposits. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.
According to data from the world bank, the first country in the world for interest rates on deposits in 2019 was Argentina. With a rate of 47.29%, Argentina surpassed Turkey, Uzbekistan, Yemen and even Venezuela, which had a rate of 14.73%. The video shows data from 1981 to 2019. It is also interesting to see the data in relation to the elements and aspects that we addressed in the first part of the article.
Sources and useful links
Several databases were used to make this video. These include the OECD and the World Bank as well as https://tradingeconomics.com/.
For any advice on other interesting data do not hesitate to write to info@statisticsanddata.org
See the video here: Top Countries with Highest Long-term Interest Rates – 1960/2020: https://youtu.be/Q28XaGDqfNw
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