A repo return is the interest earned by the lender (repo buyer) in a repo transaction. It is the amount of money paid on the cash that is lent out to the borrower (repo seller) or the party posting the collateral. In essence, it is a money market rate corresponding to the repo maturity. This rate, in turn, is a function of the base rate (published by a central bank) and the supply/ demand in the money market and repo market. From the perspective of the seller (i.e., the amount paid by the seller), the repo return is expressed as follows:

Repo return = repurchase price – sale price

On the other hand, a repo rate is the rate of interest at which commercial banks borrow money, for short-term periods, from the central bank in a given country, for liquidity purposes. Lending, by means of a repo, is collateralized by a given type of securities (such as government bonds or treasury bills). Technically, a commercial bank sells its security holdings, in the tune of the required loan, to the central bank, while agreeing to repurchase these securities later on as set out in the contract. The difference between the repurchase price and the original sale price represents the repo return (or repo interest).

The repo return is sometimes known as the repo rate. However, the two differ in the sense that the repo rate is the return (earned on a repo transaction) expressed as an interest rate on the cash leg of the transaction, while the repo return is a price  differential in absolute terms.