Treasury bill and government bond rates
Treasury bills and government bonds are ways the government borrows money in the market. The figures reported for them come from tenders and from trading, and they change as market conditions change. This page explains what those figures mean and why they are not products you can buy directly as an individual.
Latest tenders and closing yields
Rates as the Reserve Bank's data feed prints them, with the day each applies.
- Treasury bill · 91-day tender
- 7.28%
- tender rate at the latest weekly tender
- SARB current market rates 2
- Treasury bill · 182-day tender
- 7.39%
- tender rate at the latest weekly tender
- SARB current market rates 2
- Treasury bill · 273-day tender
- 7.44%
- tender rate at the latest weekly tender
- SARB current market rates 2
- Treasury bill · 364-day tender
- 7.42%
- tender rate at the latest weekly tender
- SARB current market rates 2
- Government bond closing yield · R2030
- 7.85%
- closing yield on the day, not the coupon
- SARB web indicators 1
- Government bond closing yield · R209
- 8.59%
- closing yield on the day, not the coupon
- SARB web indicators 1
Market rates change daily; these are the figures of the day shown, not an offer.
What a tender rate is and how a bill is priced at a discount
A treasury bill is a short-term government security. It does not pay a coupon. Instead it is sold at a discount to its face value, and the holder receives the face value when the bill matures.
The tender rate is the discount rate that comes out of the auction where bills are allotted. It reflects what the market paid on the day, not a rate set for savers. A higher tender rate means a larger discount and a lower price paid for the bill.
Because the bill is priced below face value, the return is the difference between the price paid and the amount received at maturity. The tender rate is a market outcome of that auction process.
Coupon versus closing yield, and why these are market figures
A government bond usually pays a coupon, which is the fixed interest paid on the bond's face value. The coupon is set when the bond is issued and does not change.
The closing yield is different. It is calculated from the bond's market price at the close of trading, so it moves as prices move. A bond can have a fixed coupon while its closing yield changes from day to day.
These figures are market data reported from the Reserve Bank feed and from tenders. They describe what happened in the market. They are not offers to individuals, and they are not a promise of what any saver will receive.
Treating a tender rate or closing yield as a rate you can lock in personally. Those figures describe market transactions between large participants, not terms available to individual savers.
Sources and read dates
Every figure on this page points to one of these. The date on the right is the day we read the source.
- 1Central bankSouth African Reserve Bank, web indicators: policy rate and bond yieldscustom.resbank.co.zapolicy rate and bond closing yields
- 2Central bankSouth African Reserve Bank, current market rates: Treasury bill tenderscustom.resbank.co.zaTreasury bill tender rates