Botswana’s household debt has surged to an estimated P68.6 billion as of December 2024, marking a 12 percent increase from P61 billion recorded in the previous financial year, according to the Bank of Botswana’s 2025 Household Indebtedness Survey Report.

The central bank attributes the rise to growing reliance on personal loans, mortgages, and credit facilities, raising concerns about the sustainability of household borrowing amid sluggish income growth.

“The P68.6 billion comprised P59.6 billion (87 percent) commercial bank loans; P8.5 billion (12 percent) microlender loans; and P509 million (1 percent) hire purchase loans. As a percentage of GDP, total household debt accounted for 26 percent in December 2024, up from 23.1 percent

in December 2023, mainly due to a decrease in GDP,” the Bank said. It notes that “In spite of the increase, these proportions remain significantly lower than regional counterparts, with latest data from South Africa and Mauritius showing ratios of 33.7 percent (December 2024) and 37.7 percent (June 2024), respectively.”

It says as observed in the previous survey, men continue to borrow more than women across all financial institutions, accounting for an average of 56 percent of the entire lending.

“However, women held a higher proportion of hire purchase loans, making up 56 percent of the loan category,” the Bank says. The survey also establishes that loans are dominated by persons aged 36-49 with total debt of P40 billion, with households earning between P9,000 and P25,000 accounting for most of the borrowing across commercial banks and microlenders.

“Most of the participating institutions viewed the demand for credit as moderate whilst a few experienced higher demand in 2024,” the survey says. At the time of the survey, both banks and micro-lenders were optimistic about credit demand in 2025, due to anticipation of household income growth, favourable pricing and overall increase in economic growth.

“However, these expectations are largely conditioned by the macroeconomic, fiscal and liquidity challenges experienced in the first half of 2025,” the Bank says.

The Survey results show that the largest proportion of the loan portfolios is held by individuals aged between 36 and 49 years across both banks and micro-lenders, consistent with trends observed in previous years (2022 – 2024). The results also indicate that, on aggregate, the largest proportion of household loans are to customers aged above 31 years.

Commercial bank credit is largely dominated by males, although both males and females generally have a relatively similar appetite for the various bank credit products. For the micro-lender loan categories, personal loans continue to dominate the portfolio at 97.8 percent, even though their proportion fell from 99.6 percent in 2023.

The survey says consistent with the distribution of loans by age group, majority of employed individuals are aged between 36 and 49, forming 41.6 percent of total employment. Additionally, they hold the highest employment-to-population ratio at 66.9 percent, a slight increase from 66.3 percent registered in 2023. “It is observed that this age group has the highest loan amounts followed by individuals aged between 50 and 65 and 31 to 35, respectively,” the survey says.