Contact department

Contact email

Contact email subject

Credit to the non-financial sector Data Query

Content authors

Christian Dembiermont, Mathias Drehmann and Siriporn Muksakunratana

Content description abstract

 Despite their importance, data capturing total credit to the private non-financial sector are scarce. This article introduces a new BIS database that provides this information for 40 economies with, on average, more than 45 years of quarterly data, reaching back to the 1940s and 1950s in some cases. It explains the key concepts underlying the compilation of the new series, including a description of the high-level statistical criteria applied, the characteristics of the underlying series used and the statistical techniques employed. For illustration purposes, some facets of the historical evolution of total credit are explored, revealing interesting similarities and differences across countries. 

Content document type

Content name

How much does the private sector really borrow - a new database for total credit to the private non-financial sector

Content rank

Content release date

Content URL

https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1303h.htm

Data are released every quarter. The publication date and the latest reference period are shown in the <a href='/release-calendar?filter=categoryId%3DTOTAL_CREDIT'>statistics release calendar</a>.

How often and when are the credit statistics updated?

Explore the credit to the non-financial sector dashboard to get quick visual insights into our statistics, analyse country and global developments and build your own data stories. This data set captures borrowing activity of the government and private non-financial sectors.

Content embed

Content image

Credit to the non-financial sector dashboard

https://dataviz.bis.org/t/DataPortal/views/tc/Main

Christian Dembiermont, Michela Scatigna, Robert Szemere and Bruno Tissot

 We present a new data set on credit to the general government sector for 26 advanced and 14 emerging market economies. The main benefit of these new BIS series for 'public debt' is that they provide data with similar characteristics from across the globe, facilitating cross-country comparisons. Another distinctive feature is that the data set contains series expressed in both nominal and market value terms, allowing for a wide range of analyses. Lastly, the statistical concepts are identical to those underlying the BIS data set on credit to the private non-financial sector, published since 2013. Taken together, the data sets can thus provide a useful picture of the aggregated indebtedness of all non-financial sectors. 

A new database on general government debt

https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1509g.htm

 The credit statistics are from national data sources. 

What are the main sources for the credit statistics?

Credit to the non-financial sector (CSV, flat)

Metadata on credit: Private non-financial sector

https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit/credpriv_doc.pdf

Metadata on credit: General government sector

https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit/credgov_doc.pdf

Changes to the data set on credit to the non-financial sector

https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit/changes.htm

The <a href='https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit.htm' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>credit to the non-financial sector</a> data set captures the indebtedness of the major non-financial sectors. It shows the outstanding amount of debt by (ie liabilities of) the non-financial sector, broken down into the government sector and the private non-financial sector, where the latter is further split between non-financial corporations and households (including non-profit institutions serving households). The debt instruments covered are debt securities, loans and currency and deposits (the sum of which is defined as “core debt”). These sectors and debt instruments are as defined in the System of National Accounts. For more details, see BIS Quarterly Review articles on <a href='https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1303h.htm' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>private</a> and <a href='https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1509g.htm' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>government</a> credit.

What does the credit to the non-financial sector data set cover?

Credit to the non-financial sector (CSV, row)

Two different lender categories are available but only for the borrower sector "private non-financial sector" (PNFS). "Total credit" comprises financing from all sources, including domestic banks, other domestic financial corporations, non-financial corporations and non-residents. "Bank credit" includes credit extended by domestic banks to the PNFS.

What is the difference between "total credit" and "bank credit"?

Credit to the non-financial sector (SDMX2.1 Compact)

The NFC sector is as defined in the System of National Accounts (SNA sector S.11) and includes public and private corporations. PNFS is the sum of NFC and households. The “household” sector in the data set in turn comprises the households (SNA sector S.14) plus non-profit institutions serving households (SNA sector S.15).

What is the difference between the non-financial corporations (NFC) sector and the private non-financial sector (PNFS)? What comprises PNFS?

Credit to the non-financial sector (SDMX2.1 Generic)

Data on the private non-financial sector, non-financial corporations (NFC) and households are unconsolidated, eg credit from one NFC to another NFC is not netted out, ie included in the debt figures. However, for the general government sector, data are consolidated, eg credit from the central government to the local government is netted out, ie excluded from the debt figures.

For the figures on "total credit", are the data consolidated or unconsolidated?

Data on the debt of these sectors are shown on a gross basis, ie their own assets are not subtracted.

The <a href='/topics/TOTAL_CREDIT/data/BIS,PDQ_F1_1,1.0'>total credit to the non-financial sector</a> aggregate is the sum of the debt of the <a href='/topics/TOTAL_CREDIT/data/BIS,PDQ_F2_1,1.0'>private</a> and government sectors. For some countries, government sector debt is available in two valuations: <a href='/topics/TOTAL_CREDIT/data/BIS,PDQ_F5_1,1.0'>market</a> and <a href='/topics/TOTAL_CREDIT/data/BIS,PDQ_F5_4,1.0'>nominal</a>. Whenever available, the government data on market value are used to calculate the NFS aggregate.

What valuation of general government debt is used in the credit to the non-financial sector (NFS) aggregate?

General information on the data set and details on the source of each country's data are provided in these documents: <a href='https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit/credpriv_doc.pdf' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>private</a> and <a href='https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit/credgov_doc.pdf' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>government</a> credit metadata.

Where can I find specific details for each country?

Data are expressed in the following units: in local currency, in US dollars and as a percentage of GDP. Credit-to-GDP is calculated as the outstanding amount of debt at the end of the quarter compared with the sum of the last four quarters of GDP. The BIS does not publish the underlying GDP data. Data in local currency are converted to US dollars using the prevailing exchange rates at the end of the quarter. These <a href='/topics/XRU/data'>US dollar exchange rates</a> are published on the BIS Data Portal.

How are the credit-to-GDP ratios and credit in US dollars calculated?

The data set provides two measures: aggregates based on conversion to US dollars at market exchange rates and at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. PPP rates data are taken from IMF, World Economic Outlook. The G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the euro area, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States. The advanced economies comprise Australia, Canada, Denmark, the euro area, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The emerging market economies comprise Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czechia, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Türkiye.

How are the regional aggregates calculated? Which countries are included in the aggregates for G20, advanced and emerging market economies?

Since the release of this data set in 2013, the coverage of this data set has changed and expanded. The <a href='https://www.bis.org/statistics/totcredit/changes.htm' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>"Changes to the data set"</a> lists changes since then, including the addition of new countries, new starting date and major revisions.

What changes have been made to this database? Where can I find a list of changes that have been made over time?

Credit to the non-financial sector

Dashboards

Credit to the non-financial sector dashboard