Household borrowing slows down

Source: Bank of Botswana
Source: Bank of Botswana

Despite low interest rates, the uptake of loans by individuals grew at a significantly slower rate in 2014, reflecting weaker growth in incomes and tightening liquidity in the market.

Figures released by the Bank of Botswana (BoB) indicate that annual credit growth in the household sector more than halved last year, decelerating   from 24.2 percent in 2013 to 9.4 percent. 

This was attributable to a significant decrease in mortgage lending growth from 40.1 percent to 18.4 percent and a steep fall in the growth of personal loans from 19.6 percent to 5.3 percent between 2013 and 2014.  While the weakening personal loans uptake reflects slower growth in real incomes, the slow down in mortgage lending appears to be consistent with other indications that the market for residential property is weakening particularly for the high-value properties.

Editor's Comment
Let’s fight GBV as a collective

Botswana for the longest time was known for her virulent peace with family being an enviable institution.As the media, we are also scared to be incessantly reporting on these bloody scenes where women are brutally murdered and worse, sometimes in front of their children and loved ones. Yes, we have reported cases where men were also brutally murdered by their loved ones, but such cases are a drop in the ocean.For the past two weeks, Botswana was...

Have a Story? Send Us a tip
arrow up