Mmegi

BoB engages market as gov’t debt costs rise

New broom: Lesego Moseki, the new governor, takes on the challenge of raising sustainable funding for government. He spent nearly five years as the Financial Markets director
New broom: Lesego Moseki, the new governor, takes on the challenge of raising sustainable funding for government. He spent nearly five years as the Financial Markets director

The Bank of Botswana (BoB) and the government are engaging capital market participants in order to restore confidence in the direction of the fiscus and to manage the costs of the debt the Government is seeking in the local market.

Under government’s P55 billion domestic note issuance programme, the BoB floats bonds and Treasury Bills (TB) each month to raise debt for government in the capital market. At the auctions, primary dealers, who are exclusively banks, compete to lend to the Government by offering the yields or returns they are seeking.

Publicly available data show that both the actual yields and the demands for yields at each monthly auction have been rising sharply this year, due largely to the sovereign credit downgrades, the government’s uncertain fiscal outlook, and escalating interest rates.

Editor's Comment
Our digital safety is in our hands

That sounds like good news. But the report also warns that this may simply be because our digital economy is still young, not because we are safe. As more people shop, bank and pay online, criminals will follow.We Batswana do not need a report to tell us that danger is real. Many of us have heard of or fallen victim to KYC scams. A caller impersonates your bank or mobile money provider. They say they need to “verify” your account. They ask...

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