Every African government borrows by selling Treasury bills. The price it pays, the interest rate, is set at an auction, and it differs enormously from country to country.
One-year bills across Africa
From the latest one-year (364-day) auction in each market, as collected in the Afronomics African Sovereign Bill Index of 5 October 2026:
| Country | One-year bill | Central bank’s policy rate |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 25.67% | 19.00% (overnight deposit rate) |
| Malawi | 16.00% | 24.00% |
| Nigeria | 15.89% | not yet collected |
| Mozambique | 12.09% | 9.25% |
| Uganda | 11.00% (3 Sept) | not yet collected |
| Zambia | 10.00% | 10.75% |
| Ghana | 9.83% | 14.00% |
| Kenya | 9.04% | 8.75% |
| South Africa | 7.50% | 7.25% |
| Tanzania | 6.29% | 6.25% |
Policy rates as each central bank publishes them; see policy rates for dates and sources.
What sets the price of money in each country
- The central bank’s policy rate. It is the floor most other rates build on: see what a policy rate is. Where it is high, bills are usually high too.
- Inflation. Lenders want to be paid more than prices rise. Countries with faster inflation pay more to borrow: see inflation and your money.
- The currency. If a currency is expected to weaken, lenders, especially from abroad, ask for more to make up for it: see exchange rates.
- Trust and need. A government that needs to borrow a lot, or has struggled to repay before, pays a premium.
Reading the gap with the policy rate
When the bill rate sits well below the policy rate, as in Malawi and Ghana, lenders expect the central bank to cut. When it sits well above, as in Egypt and Mozambique, they expect rates to stay high or rise, or they are pricing extra risk. Where the two are close, as in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, the market expects little change.
What it means for you, wherever you are
- A high rate is not automatically a good deal. EXAMPLE DATA: a 25% bill where prices rise 20% a year leaves you about 4.2% better off; a 6% bill where prices rise 3% leaves you about 2.9% better off. The headline rates differ by 19 points; what you can buy differs by about one.
- Compare like with like: the same tenor, after tax, against your own country’s inflation.
- Follow your market: every result lands on the T-bill monitor, with an alert on the alerts page.
Information, not advice.