The government plans to raise P3.1 billion from the domestic market on 28 August, continuing its heavy reliance on monthly debt auctions to finance the budget deficit.
The Bank of Botswana will conduct the auction on behalf of the Ministry of Finance under the existing P55 billion domestic note programme. The offering comprises P1.5 billion in three-month Treasury bills maturing on 2 December 2026, P1 billion in six-month bills maturing on 3 March 2027, and P600 million in reopened longer-term government bonds.
Treasury bills are short-term government securities issued at a discount and redeemed at face value on maturity, typically used for cash-flow management and refinancing. Bonds are longer-term instruments that pay periodic interest and are used to fund more structural budget needs.
The August sale follows a series of large auctions since the start of the 2026/27 financial year on 1 April. Government offered P3.9 billion in April, P3.8 billion in May, P2.8 billion in June and a record P5.1 billion in July, bringing total amounts offered in the first four months of the fiscal year to about P15.6 billion.
Borrowing costs have eased in recent months. The weighted average yield on three-month Treasury bills fell from 10.71 percent in April to 7.58 percent in the July auction, the fourth consecutive decline. Investor demand has remained strong, with bids regularly exceeding the amounts on offer by about three times.
The continued issuance comes against a projected P26.35 billion budget deficit for 2026/27, equivalent to 8.9 percent of GDP. Domestic government securities – comprising Treasury bills and bonds – stood at P48.3 billion at the end of March 2026, equivalent to about 88 percent of the current P55 billion domestic note programme ceiling. Public and publicly guaranteed debt reached P92.7 billion over the same period. Authorities have already raised the statutory debt ceiling from 40 percent to 60 percent of GDP, and the Ministry of Finance is now seeking parliamentary approval to increase the domestic note programme ceiling from P55 billion to P85 billion to create additional borrowing headroom.