FAOSTAT released new data on credit to agriculture. Credit plays a pivotal role in agricultural development, serving as a critical instrument that enables farmers to finance production, adopt improved technologies, and sustain productivity in the face of seasonal and market uncertainties. 

FAOSTAT provides total credit data series from 1991 to 2024 for over 170 countries and credit to agriculture data series for 131 countries.

Main findings:

• In real terms, credit to agriculture increased by 29 percent, from USD 961 billion in 2015 to USD 1 239 billion in 2024. Over the same period, total loans across all industries expanded by 40 percent, from USD 39.5 trillion to USD 55.3 trillion.
• The share of agriculture in global credit declined slightly, from 2.44 percent in 2015 to 2.24 percent in 2024, underscoring the sector’s relatively modest growth compared with other industries.
• Asia maintained its leading position in supplying credit to agriculture, with its share in total credit increasing from 47 percent in 2015 to 60 percent in 2024. Europe’s share decreased from 28 percent to 20 percent, while that of the Americas declined from 13.5 percent to 10.6 percent. The shares of Oceania and Africa also experienced slight reductions over the same period.
• The ratio of credit to agriculture relative to agricultural value added (a measure of financial depth), averaged 0.32 globally between 2015 and 2024. Oceania recorded the highest ratio (2.0), whereas Africa had the lowest (0.06), highlighting uneven access to agricultural financing across regions.
• The top ten providers of credit to agriculture together accounted for 54.7 percent of the global total in 2020–2024), down from 55.8 percent in 2015–2019.