Brazil still has the highest real interest rate in the world, despite the drop in the Selic

Although the Central Bank began lowering the Selic rate at the beginning of the month, Brazil remains at the top of the podium among countries with the highest real basic interest rate – that is, after discounting projected inflation for the next 12 months. According to the portal MoneyYou, Brazil’s real rate is now 6.68% per annum, 0.04 percentage points above second-place Mexico.

But it is not just in this interest rate ranking that Brazil is on the podium. According to data from the World Bank for 2022, Brazil had the third largest bank spread in the world and the largest among the G20 economies. Around here, the spread – the difference between what the bank pays to raise money and how much it charges the customer – was 27.4 percentage points, behind only Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

Real interest ranking, in % per year (source: MonYou)

Ranking of nominal interest, in % per year (source: MonYou)