Domestic market debt makes up 63% of government’s total debt amounting to about N$87 billion, down from 67% in July last year. Minister of Finance, Calle Schlettwein revealed this during a media conference held here on Thursday. Domestic market debt amounted to close to N$54,9 billion. Schlettwein said the government chose to use the local market to raise debt in order to help in the development of the local capital market by providing more investment opportunities, in addition to funding the government deficit. “The offering of the bulk of the funding requirement to domestic investors is necessitated by the need to have sufficient quality investment assets in the domestic market and thus aid in deepening the domestic capital markets and provide an avenue for domestic investors to place their investments domestically,” he said. The domestic debt comprises treasury bills amounting to close to N$21,8 billion; treasury bonds of N$28,4 billion; and inflated linked bonds amounting to about N$4,7 billion. Total foreign debt which comprises bilateral and multilateral loans, and Eurobond and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed bonds amounted to just over N$32,1 billion, making up 37% of the government’s total debt. Bilateral loans (from Germany and China) amounted to close to N$1,2 billion; multilateral loans to about N$10 billion; a JSE listed bond to about N$2,9 billion and Eurobond to about N$18 billion as at 31 March 2019.