How the World Finances Business 2026: Bank Credit for Firms
How do businesses pay for the things that keep them running and growing? When a firm needs to bridge a payroll gap, stock up on inventory, or buy a new machine, it can reach for retained earnings, supplier credit, equity, or — the channel we map here — a bank. The World Bank’s World Development Indicators, drawn from its Enterprise Surveys, give us three complementary readings of how deeply firms lean on the banking system: the share of firms with a bank loan or line of credit, the share that use banks to finance working capital, and the share that use banks to finance investment. Read together, they describe not how much money flows, but how common it is for an ordinary business to treat a bank as its financing partner. This report works through all three across the same universe of economies, then looks at how that reliance shifts by income group and region.
Every figure below comes from FinStatGlobe’s derived World Development Indicators datasets. These are survey-based measures, so each carries the actual year of its latest available observation — many from 2023, 2024, or 2025, some older — and because Enterprise Survey series are sparse and irregular, they carry no 2026 projections, so none appear here. For all three measures a higher percentage means more firms using bank finance, so a rank of 1 marks the economy where bank use is most widespread and the bottom of each table the least.
What the three indicators measure
The three indicators describe the same act — a firm turning to a bank — at three points in the business cycle. The first, the share of firms with a bank loan or line of credit, is the broadest: it captures whether a business holds any active credit relationship with a bank at all. The second narrows to purpose: the share of firms that use banks to finance working capital, the short-term money that pays for inventory, wages, and the gap between a sale and its settlement — the lifeblood of day-to-day B2B payments. The third asks the same about investment finance: the share of firms that fund fixed assets — plant, equipment, premises — through bank borrowing rather than from their own cash.
All three are expressed as a percentage of surveyed firms, and all come from the same World Bank Enterprise Survey programme, so they can be read side by side for a single economy. A country where many firms hold a loan but few use banks for investment is financing differently from one where the opposite holds. Our deep dive on where firms rely on bank loans walks through the loan-or-line-of-credit measure in more detail.
The global picture: three medians, three purposes
Across the economies with a latest value, the typical firm’s bank reliance is strikingly consistent across the three purposes — and consistently modest. The median share of firms with a bank loan or line of credit is 34.7% (mean 34.3%). For working capital the median is 25.7% (mean 25.8%), and for investment finance it is 26.6% (mean 26.4%). In the median economy, then, fewer than four in ten firms hold any bank credit, and only about a quarter turn to a bank for either working capital or investment.
| Indicator | Median (% of firms) | Mean | Economies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank loan or line of credit | 34.7% | 34.3% | 145 |
| Working-capital finance from banks | 25.7% | 25.8% | 145 |
| Investment finance from banks | 26.6% | 26.4% | 144 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS, IC.FRM.BKWC.ZS, IC.FRM.BNKS.ZS).
The gap between the first measure and the other two is the most telling pattern: holding a loan or line of credit is more common than using a bank for any specific financing purpose. The distribution of the broad loan measure is bunched in the middle — 60 of the 145 economies fall in the 25–50% band, 39 in the 10–25% band, 28 in the 50–75% band, just 15 under 10%, and only 3 at 75% and above. For working capital the mass sits lower: 55 economies in the 25–40% band, 47 in the 10–25% band, 23 under 10%, 17 in the 40–55% band, and 3 at 55% or above. Investment finance is similar, with 6 economies at 55% and above. Our note on capital and business finance places these firm-level patterns alongside the macro picture of credit to the private sector.
Where firms most use bank finance
The economies where firms most often hold a bank loan or line of credit span high- and middle-income groups, with a strong European and Latin American presence at the top. The leader is Israel at 88.5% (2024), followed by Peru at 81.2% (2023) and Germany at 77.4% (2025) — the three economies above the 75% threshold.
| Rank | Economy | Firms with a bank loan/line of credit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel | 88.5% | 2024 |
| 2 | Peru | 81.2% | 2023 |
| 3 | Germany | 77.4% | 2025 |
| 4 | Italy | 73.4% | 2024 |
| 5 | Belgium | 71.1% | 2024 |
| 6 | Kosovo | 69.6% | 2025 |
| 7 | Denmark | 68.7% | 2025 |
| 8 | Finland | 66.6% | 2020 |
| 9 | Austria | 66.4% | 2025 |
| 10 | Paraguay | 65% | 2023 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS).
Italy (73.4%, 2024), Belgium (71.1%, 2024) and Kosovo (69.6%, 2025) round out the upper group, with Denmark (68.7%, 2025), Finland (66.6%, 2020), Austria (66.4%, 2025) and Paraguay (65%, 2023) completing the top ten. The same economies tend to recur at the top of the other two measures: Peru leads the world for working-capital finance at 64.5% (2023), and Israel leads for investment finance at 83.2% (2024). For the investment measure, Kosovo (65%, 2025) and Saudi Arabia (57.1%, 2025) also rank high — a reminder that the purpose mix differs by economy even when overall bank reliance is strong.
The financing gap at the bottom
At the other end, bank finance is rare. For the loan-or-line-of-credit measure the lowest reading is in Pakistan at 2.1% (2022), with Iraq at 2.3% (2022) just above it and South Africa at 4.8% (2020) next — a striking figure for an upper-middle-income economy.
| Rank | Economy | Firms with a bank loan/line of credit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 136 | DR Congo | 8.7% | 2024 |
| 137 | Timor-Leste | 8.3% | 2021 |
| 138 | Madagascar | 8% | 2022 |
| 139 | Angola | 7.4% | 2024 |
| 140 | Egypt | 7% | 2025 |
| 141 | Somalia | 5.4% | 2025 |
| 142 | Guinea | 4.9% | 2025 |
| 143 | South Africa | 4.8% | 2020 |
| 144 | Iraq | 2.3% | 2022 |
| 145 | Pakistan | 2.1% | 2022 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS).
The bottom of the table is dominated by Sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern economies: DR Congo (8.7%, 2024), Madagascar (8%, 2022), Angola (7.4%, 2024) and Egypt (7%, 2025) all sit in single digits, as does Guinea (4.9%, 2025). Somalia (5.4%, 2025) appears here without its own country page — it is one of the economies in the dataset that lacks per-country pages. In total, 24 of the 145 economies in the bank-credit universe have no per-country page on this site, so where they fall in a ranking they are named here but not linked. The same hard floor recurs across the purpose measures: working-capital finance bottoms out at 2.1% in Iraq (2022), and investment finance is lowest in Kuwait, recorded at 0% (2025) — Kuwait is likewise an economy without a country page here. For the wider context of what stresses bank balance sheets in some of these systems, see our report on bad loans and bank stress.
The income gradient: access rises with income
The clearest single story in this data is the income gradient. The share of firms holding a bank loan or line of credit climbs steeply with national income. In the median high-income economy the figure is 43.6% and in the median upper-middle- income economy 43% — almost the same — but it drops to 21.9% in the median lower-middle-income economy and 16.9% in the median low-income economy. A firm in a typical high-income economy is, by this measure, more than two and a half times as likely to hold bank credit as a firm in a typical low-income one.
| Income group | Bank loan/line of credit | Working-capital finance | Investment finance |
|---|---|---|---|
| High income | 43.6% | 29% | 27% |
| Upper middle income | 43% | 33.4% | 29.9% |
| Lower middle income | 21.9% | 19.9% | 21.9% |
| Low income | 16.9% | 15.9% | 16% |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS, IC.FRM.BKWC.ZS, IC.FRM.BNKS.ZS), median % of firms by income group.
The same gradient holds for the two purpose measures, with one twist worth noting: for both working-capital and investment finance the upper-middle-income median sits above the high-income median — 33.4% versus 29% for working capital, and 29.9% versus 27% for investment. In other words, while high-income firms are most likely to hold a credit line at all, it is upper-middle-income firms that most often route specific working-capital and investment needs through a bank. At the bottom of the income ladder the readings converge near 16% across all three purposes: in the median low-income economy, only about one firm in six finances any of these activities through a bank. That access gap is the structural fact behind the case for SME and business-to-business finance innovation in lower-income markets.
Regional patterns
Regional medians for the loan-or-line-of-credit measure run from the high teens to the low fifties. Latin America & the Caribbean leads at 52.1% across 14 economies, followed by North America at 46.2% across 2 and Europe & Central Asia at 43.6% across 43. South Asia sits at 40.1% across 6, East Asia & Pacific at 28.2% across 21, and the two lowest medians are in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan region at 19.9% across 14 and Sub-Saharan Africa at 19.4% across 45.
| Region | Bank loan/line of credit | Economies |
|---|---|---|
| Latin America & Caribbean | 52.1% | 14 |
| North America | 46.2% | 2 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 43.6% | 43 |
| South Asia | 40.1% | 6 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 28.2% | 21 |
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 19.9% | 14 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 19.4% | 45 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS), median % of firms by region.
The ordering shifts somewhat across the purpose measures. For working-capital finance, Latin America & the Caribbean again leads at 34.1% across 14 economies, ahead of Europe & Central Asia at 30.3%, while the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan region runs the lowest median at 12.4%. For investment finance, Latin America & the Caribbean leads at 33% and South Asia is second at 28.5%, with Sub-Saharan Africa lowest at 19.2% across 44 economies. Across all three measures Latin America & the Caribbean stands out as the region where firms most consistently use banks, and Sub-Saharan Africa as the one where they least do — a regional echo of the income gradient, since the two regions sit at opposite ends of it.
A note on the data
These are Enterprise Survey indicators, and that shapes how they should be read. Unlike the macroeconomic series tracked elsewhere on this site, Enterprise Surveys are conducted irregularly, on no fixed national schedule, so the latest available year differs sharply from economy to economy — from 2020 readings to 2025 ones in the tables above. The median economy here has only about three observations in its entire series, which is why this report makes no time-trend or “biggest mover” claims for any country: with so few, unevenly spaced data points, point-to-point changes are not reliable signals of a trend. The coverage also tilts toward developing and emerging economies, where the Enterprise Survey programme is most active, so the cross-country picture is richer at the lower-income end than for the largest advanced economies. Every figure is an observed value carrying its real survey year; none is a 2026 estimate, and the “2026” in this report’s title is editorial framing for the year of writing, not a projection.
Sources & method
All statistics in this report come from the World Bank’s World Development
Indicators, drawn from its Enterprise Surveys and stored in FinStatGlobe’s derived
per-country datasets. Three indicators are used, all expressed as a percentage of
surveyed firms: the share of firms with a bank loan or line of credit
(IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS), the share using banks to finance working capital
(IC.FRM.BKWC.ZS), and the share using banks to finance investment
(IC.FRM.BNKS.ZS). Medians, means, counts, rankings, and the income- and regional-
group medians were computed across every economy in the derived data with a latest
available value for each indicator — 145 economies for the bank-loan and working-
capital measures and 144 for investment finance. Medians use the standard convention
(for an even count, the mean of the two middle values); regional and income-group
medians are taken over the economies in each group. Of the 145 economies in the
bank-credit universe, 121 have a dedicated country page; where an economy without a
page appears in a ranking it is named but not linked. Each figure is labelled with
its actual observation year; no 2026 projections are shown, because Enterprise Survey
series carry none. For the full pipeline — how source data becomes a country page —
see the methodology page.