Botswana: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Data Quality Assessment for Public Sector Debt Statistics Mission (May 14–20, 2025)
Technical Assistance Reports, August 13, 2025
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Bibliographic details
- Published: August 13, 2025
- Series: Technical Assistance Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229019750.019
Assessment scope and context
- The assessment evaluates Botswana’s public sector debt statistics (PSDS) against the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) for PSDS.
- The mission was part of an initiative funded by the Government of Japan to strengthen public debt data quality and transparency in selected African countries.
- Botswana adopted the IMF’s enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) in January 2016; reporting of PSDS via the National Summary Data Page (NSDP) remains limited in scope.
- The IMF’s Statistics Department has provided substantial capacity development support to strengthen government finance statistics (GFS) and PSDS in Botswana.
Key quantitative findings and data status
- Public debt reached 28 percent of GDP by March 2025—up from 20.2 percent in December 2023 (excluding other accounts payable).
- Botswana has historically adhered to a public debt ceiling of below 40 percent of GDP.
- The public debt composition has maintained an even split between external and domestic debt.
- Compilation methods are largely in accordance with international statistical standards.
Main findings on data quality, timeliness, and transparency
- Botswana’s public debt statistics are generally reliable.
- Shortcomings were identified in:
- Data coverage.
- Timeliness of reporting.
- Transparency of published PSDS.
- Reporting of PSDS via the NSDP is limited in scope despite e-GDDS adoption.
- Operational risks arise from current IT resources and system integration gaps, affecting consistency in published data and data exchange with the Bank of Botswana’s Central Securities Depository (CSDB).
Institutional and legal observations
- Debt management functions in the Ministry of Finance require strengthening to align with best practices.
- Recommended institutional structure: incorporation of dedicated front, middle, and back-office operations within debt management functions.
- The legal framework should be enhanced to provide more comprehensive oversight of debt management.
IT and systems recommendations
- Enhance IT resources to:
- Mitigate operational risks.
- Facilitate integration with internal systems.
- Enable effective interfacing with the Bank of Botswana’s Central Securities Depository (CSDB) to promote efficient data exchange and ensure consistency in published data.
Policy recommendations (prioritized)
- Strengthen the Ministry of Finance’s debt management capacity and organizational structure (front/middle/back office segregation).
- Enhance the legal framework to improve oversight of debt management.
- Improve PSDS coverage, timeliness, and transparency in published outputs, including broader and more regular reporting via the NSDP.
- Upgrade IT infrastructure to support secure, timely, and consistent data compilation and exchange with the CSDB and other internal systems.
Conclusion
- While Botswana’s PSDS are generally reliable and compilation methods align with international standards, the report emphasizes the need for targeted improvements in coverage, timeliness, transparency, institutional arrangements, legal frameworks, and IT systems to sustain and enhance public debt data quality.
Source: Botswana: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Data Quality Assessment for Public Sector Debt Statistics Mission (May 14–20, 2025)
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