Trade & Finance · Glossary
Real interest rate (%)
FR.INR.RINR
Definition
An interest rate is the amount charged, expressed as a percentage of the principal over a period of time, by the owners of certain kinds of financial assets for putting the financial assets at the disposal of another institutional unit. The real interest rate is the lending interest rate adjusted for inflation as measured by the GDP deflator. The terms and conditions attached to lending rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability. This indicator is expressed as a percentage (a÷b)*100.
Methodology for Trade & Finance indicators
Trade and finance indicators are sourced from customs declarations, balance-of-payments statistics, and central bank reporting. Exports and imports are usually reported FOB (free on board) for exports and CIF (cost, insurance, freight) for imports, which means global exports and global imports rarely sum to zero. Foreign direct investment data can be volatile year-over-year because of one-off cross-border acquisitions.
How to interpret
- Always check the unit and reporting year before comparing values across countries.
- NULL or "Not available" means the World Bank did not publish a value — we never estimate.
- Year-over-year changes can be driven by methodology updates, not just real economic shifts.
Related indicators in Trade & Finance
- Merchandise imports (current US$)
- Merchandise exports (current US$)
- Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$)
- Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports)
- Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports)