BoB moves again to protect foreign reserves :: Mmegi Online

The Bank of Botswana (BoB) has increased its minimum threshold for trading foreign currency with commercial banks from $1 million to $5 million, whilst also increasing the costs of accessing the facility, as it fights to preserve the official reserves from the prolonged diamond slump.

The country’s official foreign reserves, managed by the BoB, fell P18.4 billion between March 2024 and March 2025, triggering concerns about the country’s ability to pay for its imports whilst also fuelling growing anxiety about the value of the pula.

Besides increasing the threshold for trade with banks, the BoB also raised its trading margin used for foreign exchange transactions to banks, from ± 0.5 percent around the central rate to a margin of ± 7.5 percent. The BoB increased the margin from 0.125 percent to 0.5 percent in January.

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