By: Nghiinomenwa-vali Hangala
In an auction held on Monday, the government, through the Central Bank, has decided to keep N$541.4 million of the maturing GC27 bond by switching it to long-term bonds.
This is according to the Bank of Namibia’s Switch Auction results.
This is the 5th auction, bringing the total amount of money switched to N$4.1 billion. In other words, that is the total amount of money the government is not returning next year when the bond matures.
The government is meat to return that amount of money next year to the investors. However, through its Switch Auctions initiative, it asks investors who want to keep their money with the government for more years at a certain rate to switch it.
Switching is an option given to investors in a maturing bond to move their money to a long-term government bond through an auction (submitting bids and their respective rates for the government to consider).
As of the end of July 2026, the government owes N$4.1 billion; this is after conducting five auctions.
The latest auction was held on Monday, and 46 bids were received, valued at more than half a billion (N$548.4 million).
Almost all the bids value was switched during this auction, only N$7 million was not swiched.
Most of the bids were targeting the GC29 Bond. This means most of the investors only wanted to switch their investment 2 more years ahead.
Out of the total switch, N$266 million was switched to the GC29.
The second bond investment they were interested in is the GC34. It received N$147.4 million of the total switched, with all 9 bids successful.
More switch auctions are scheduled on 23 September and 21 October, before the closure of thebond.
Domestic debt stood at N$160.9 billion at the end of July 2026, increasing by 2.4% month-on- month.
This amount has however, increased given the past 2-week domestic borrowing through auctioning of bonds and treasury bills.
The government will borrow N$3.9 billion for the month of August from the domestic market.
