The cost of borrowing in Liberia moved in two directions over the past year: business lending became modestly more expensive while consumer loan rates eased, according to interest-rate data published by the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).
The average Liberian-dollar lending rate rose to 13.1 percent in February 2026, from 12.3 percent a year earlier. The US-dollar lending rate also edged up, to 13.1 percent from 12.9 percent — a notable move given that the CBL had cut its policy rate over the same period, and a sign of how loosely the policy rate is linked to what businesses actually pay.
Consumer borrowing told the opposite story. The average personal-loan rate in Liberian dollars fell to 16.2 percent from 18.6 percent a year earlier, and the mortgage rate dropped to 14.4 percent from 16.7 percent. Both eased, but both remain high by international standards — a mortgage above 14 percent puts home financing out of reach for most households.
Savers, meanwhile, saw little benefit. The average savings rate stayed near 1.9 percent and the time-deposit rate eased to 3.7 percent from 4.5 percent. The wide gap between what banks charge borrowers and what they pay depositors — a spread of more than ten percentage points on many products — points to a banking system where competition for deposits is limited and the cost of lending stays high.
High borrowing costs are a long-standing constraint on the Liberian economy. Formal credit reaches only a small share of businesses and households, and the firms most likely to create jobs — small and medium enterprises — are often the least able to afford double-digit rates or to meet collateral requirements.
The rates also sit alongside a broader pattern in bank lending: credit to the private sector has been broadly flat while banks have increased their holdings of government debt, reducing the incentive to take on the risk and cost of business loans.
For monetary policy, the disconnect is a problem. The CBL has held its policy rate at 16.3 percent and inflation has eased, but if those signals do not pass through to commercial rates, the bank's ability to influence credit conditions in the real economy is blunted.
What to watch is whether easing inflation and a steady policy rate eventually pull business lending rates down, and whether deposit returns rise enough to draw more savings into the formal system.
