G20 Interest Rates in 2026: Full Country Ranking

Line up every G20 central bank’s policy rate today and the spread runs from 0% in Switzerland to 37% in Turkey. That is not a rounding difference or a quirk of measurement. It is two entirely different relationships between a government, its currency, and inflation.

Here is where every G20 economy stands as of September 2026, and what the number actually tells you about each one.

The Full Ranking

Source: Trading Economics, September 2026.

Turkey and Argentina: The Inflation Tax

Turkey’s 37% and Argentina’s 29% are not monetary policy in the conventional sense. They are damage control.

Both countries spent years running interest rates below inflation, which is a way of subsidizing borrowing at the expense of the currency. The bill came due as double-digit and eventually triple-digit inflation. The extreme policy rates now in place are an attempt to make holding the local currency more attractive than spending it immediately, which is the only way to break an inflationary spiral once it takes hold.

The cost is that borrowing anything — a mortgage, a business loan, working capital — is prohibitively expensive in both countries. Growth gets sacrificed to bring inflation down. That trade-off is the entire story behind both numbers.

Russia and Brazil: High Rates, Different Reasons

Russia and Brazil sit at an identical 14%, which invites comparison, but the two rates are responding to different problems.

Russia’s rate reflects a war economy: sanctions-driven import costs, a shrinking labor pool from military mobilization, and a central bank trying to defend the ruble while state spending stays elevated. Brazil’s 14% is a more conventional story of a central bank fighting persistent inflation from fiscal spending and food and energy price volatility, without the added complication of sanctions or war-driven distortions.

Both rates are being cut from higher peaks reached in 2025, and in both cases the direction — not just the level — is the thing to watch. A rate coming down from a inflation-fighting peak tells a different story than a rate still climbing.

South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia, India: The Emerging Market Middle

South Africa at 7%, Mexico at 6.5%, Indonesia at 5.75%, and India at 5.25% form a cluster of emerging economies managing inflation without the extremes seen in Turkey, Argentina, Russia, or Brazil.

These rates share a common function: keeping domestic returns competitive enough to retain foreign capital and prevent currency depreciation, while not choking off the credit growth these economies depend on to expand. India in particular has drawn attention for combining a moderate policy rate with the fastest-growing large economy in the G20 — though the sharp correction in Indian equity markets in early 2026 was a reminder that a stable interest rate does not guarantee stable asset prices.

Australia and Saudi Arabia: Commodity Economies

Australia’s 4.35% and Saudi Arabia’s 4.25% both sit in a middle band shaped heavily by commodities. Australia’s rate has stayed elevated to manage inflation tied to a resource-export economy and a historically strong housing market. Saudi Arabia’s rate largely tracks the US Federal Reserve by necessity — the riyal is pegged to the dollar, so Saudi monetary policy has limited independence and moves in step with Washington regardless of domestic conditions.

The United States and United Kingdom: Twin 3.75%

The US and UK sit at an identical 3.75%, both holding after a cutting cycle that brought rates down from the post-pandemic inflation peaks of 2023. Both central banks have signaled a cautious, data-dependent stance rather than committing to further cuts, watching for whether inflation stays anchored near target before moving again.

The coincidence of an identical rate matters less than what it represents: two large, developed economies that ran the same playbook — aggressive hikes into 2023, then a slow, careful descent — arriving at the same point from similar starting conditions.

South Korea and China: Both at 3%

South Korea and China are also tied, both at 3%, though South Korea’s rate has been rising through 2026 while China’s has stayed flat.

China’s rate is the more structurally interesting one. A 3% policy rate in the world’s second-largest economy reflects a government managing a property-sector slowdown and weak domestic consumption, using monetary policy cautiously rather than aggressively, in part because it wants to avoid destabilizing an already fragile property and shadow-banking sector. South Korea’s rate, by contrast, is responding to more conventional inflation and currency pressures.

The Eurozone, Canada, Singapore: The Low-but-Not-Zero Band

The Eurozone at 2.4%, Canada at 2.25%, and Singapore at 1.25% represent developed economies that have largely finished their post-pandemic tightening cycles and are now sitting at levels closer to historical norms.

Singapore is worth a specific note: it does not set a conventional overnight policy rate the way the other 18 economies on this list do. The Monetary Authority of Singapore manages policy through the exchange rate, letting the Singapore dollar appreciate or depreciate against a basket of currencies rather than setting a benchmark lending rate. The 1.25% figure is a market-implied equivalent, not a rate set directly by decree, which makes it structurally different from every other number in this list even though it sits comfortably in the middle of the pack.

Japan and Switzerland: The Floor

Japan at 1% and Switzerland at 0% anchor the bottom of the G20 range, and both are outliers for the same underlying reason: decades of near-zero or negative inflation that made ultra-low rates the default rather than the exception.

Japan’s 1% actually represents a significant shift. The Bank of Japan spent most of the 2010s and early 2020s at or below zero, and the move to 1% reflects the first sustained inflationary period Japan has experienced in a generation — a genuine change in regime, not a small technical adjustment. Switzerland’s 0% is closer to business as usual: the Swiss National Bank has spent much of the last fifteen years near zero, reflecting a strong currency, low domestic inflation, and an economy that has rarely needed the aggressive stimulus other developed nations required.

What the Spread Tells You

A 37-point gap between the highest and lowest G20 policy rate is really a map of trust — specifically, how much a central bank has to pay savers and lenders to keep them holding the local currency instead of converting it into dollars, euros, or gold.

At the low end, Switzerland and Japan can offer near-zero rates because inflation expectations are anchored and currency flight isn’t a serious risk. At the high end, Turkey and Argentina have to offer 30%+ because the alternative is capital fleeing the currency entirely. Everything in between — the 3% to 7% band where most of the G20’s emerging economies sit — reflects central banks trying to strike a balance: high enough to hold investor confidence, low enough not to strangle growth.

Rates in this list are not static. Several — Brazil, Russia, and South Korea in particular — have moved since mid-2026, and central bank meetings scheduled through the rest of the year for the US, UK, Eurozone, Canada, Australia, India, and others could shift this table again before year-end.

Sources

Mappr. World Interest Rates Map

Trading Economics. Interest Rate — Countries — G20

KenMacro. World Interest Rates 2026: Live Central Bank Rate Table

Statista / Bank for International Settlements. Monthly Central Bank Policy Rates in 37 Countries

Ex Nihilo magazine is for entrepreneurs and startups, connecting them with investors and fueling the global entrepreneur movement