(2026-05) BRH Note on Bank Credit, September 2024-September 2025
Summary — This second edition of the BRH's bank credit note reviews private-sector credit between September 2024 and September 2025, finding a marginal 0.3% nominal rise in the loan portfolio after two years of contraction, while a 24% real-terms decline persisted amid insecurity, a deteriorating loan-quality environment, and a credit-to-deposit ratio falling to 22%. It analyzes sectoral, regional, and gender distribution of bank credit and BRH incentive-program disbursements.
Key Findings
- Nominal bank credit to the private sector rose only 0.3% between September 2024 and September 2025, following contractions of 15.2% (2024) and 9.6% (2023).
- In real terms credit contracted 24%, versus 33.7% a year earlier.
- Credit-to-deposit ratio fell to 22% at 30 September 2025, far below the regional average above 70%.
- Non-performing loans reached 13% of gross loans (up from 11.5%); active loan accounts fell from 54,689 to 44,621 over the year.
- Real estate credit fell 41.7% amid expansion of gang-controlled zones; consumer loans to individuals more than doubled.
- Ouest department holds 75.6% of bank credit and 75% of deposits, versus 6.4% for Nord and 4.7% for Artibonite.
- BRH pro-croissance program disbursed 19.794 billion gourdes by 30 September 2025, led by housing (26.6%) and industrial free zones (25.7%).
- Women's share of gourde consumer credit rose from 35.9% to 36.7%, but only 24.9% for dollar-denominated credit.
Full Description
The BRH's May 2026 note on bank credit, the second edition of this analysis, reviews the evolution of bank credit to the private sector between September 2024 and September 2025 (fiscal year 2025). The nominal loan portfolio rose only 0.3% over the period, after contractions of 15.2% in 2024 and 9.6% in 2023, reaching 115 billion gourdes at end-September 2025 (down from a peak of 135 billion in September 2023). In real terms, credit contracted 24% (versus 33.7% the prior year), reflecting persistent inflation and restrictive financing conditions. The credit-to-deposit transformation ratio fell to 22% at 30 September 2025, well below the regional average of over 70%. Non-performing loans rose to 13% of gross loans (from 11.5%), while the number of active loan accounts fell by more than half over the decade to 44,621. The BRH maintained key policy rates unchanged (7/28/91-day BRH bond rates at 6%/8%/11.5%; reserve requirements at 40% gourdes/53% foreign currency) while authorizing loan moratoria (Circular 115-6) covering 21 billion gourdes in outstanding loans. Under its pro-croissance incentive program, the BRH disbursed 19.794 billion gourdes by 30 September 2025, led by housing (26.6%) and industrial free zones (25.7%).
Sectorally, credit remains concentrated in wholesale/retail trade (37.7% of the portfolio), consumer loans to individuals (17.3%, which more than doubled) and manufacturing (16%), while real estate credit contracted 41.7% amid the expansion of gang-controlled zones, and construction/public works fell 23.7%. Agricultural credit remains marginal at under 1% of the portfolio. Regionally, the Ouest department retains 75.6% of credit and 75% of deposits, versus 6.4% for Nord and 4.7% for Artibonite, reflecting entrenched centralization of banking activity in the capital. By gender, women's share of gourde-denominated consumer credit rose modestly from 35.9% to 36.7%, but their share of dollar-denominated credit remains just 24.9%. The note concludes that restoring security conditions is a precondition for reviving productive credit flows and SME financing, and flags the BRH's Booster PME program and a planned regionalization of the pro-croissance program as forward measures.
Notes
Cover shows publication date 'Mai 2026' with data coverage 'Septembre 2024 - Septembre 2025'; title prefix uses the publication month per instructions, not the data period.