The Central Bank of Botswana kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5% on June 27th 2019, saying that the inflation outlook remains positive amid subdued domestic demand pressures and modest rise in foreign prices. Policymakers noted that inflation was below the lower bound of the target range of 3-6% in April (2.5%) and May 2019 (2.6%), mainly reflecting base effects associated with the increase in public transport fares and electricity tariffs in the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, the economy is projected to operate close to, but below full capacity in the short to medium term; the GDP growth is expected to ease to 4.2% in 2019 from 4.5% in 2018. Interest Rate in Botswana averaged 9.42 percent from 2006 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 15.50 percent in June of 2008 and a record low of 5 percent in October of 2017.
Interest Rate in Botswana is expected to be 5.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Interest Rate in Botswana to stand at 4.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Botswana Interest Rate is projected to trend around 5.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.