Commercial banks in Timor-Leste have total autonomy to define and market their interest rates (lending and deposit interest rates). Interest rates are currently unregulated in Timor-Leste: there is no regulated interest rate calculation, nor maximum or minimum rates (except for the Children’s Savings Accounts “Ha’u-nia Futuru” programme where all licensed commercial bank applying the same term and condition.

Commercial banks publish the effective interest rates per annum charged for credit products. The published effective interest rate does not include one-time fees (such as administrative fee, evaluation fee or credit initiation fee) that can add up to 4% of the loan amount to borrowers’ cost and may make the total cost of borrowing not easily comparable across banks.

The Central Bank requires a minimum remuneration of 1.5% per annum for accounts from the Children’s Savings Accounts “Ha’u-nia Futuru” programme. All commercial banks offer the product. Detail interest rate and related fees and charges of each commercial bank can be accessed at their website respectively as following link: