Central bank wary of "asset price bubble"

The Deputy Director of General Economics and Statistics, Matthew Wright, told Business Today that the central bank was looking for "systematic" information on housing prices, the most relevant area of study for Botswana in terms of asset price threats. "The formal housing market is increasingly important, as well as increased household borrowings, and we want to monitor it more systematically," Wright said at a briefing last week. "This is because for countries that were affected by the global financial crisis, large problems developed in their housing markets."

BoB figures indicate that by March, households owed P13.08 billion in credit to commercial banks with property loans amounting to more than a quarter of totals outstanding.