Economic growth picks up

Statistics released by Statistics Botswana (SB) this week show that the mining sector drove the higher economic growth figures largely on the back of increased production in diamonds.

“At industry level, most of the increase was attributed to Mining and Trade, Hotels & Restaurants which increased by 10.7 and 7.9 percent respectively. The increase in real value added of the mining sector was due to a 23.6 percent increase in the diamond production. Scheduled plant maintenance at the Orapa mine, which yielded low production, recorded adverse contribution of the mining sector in the first quarter of 2013, whereas in the period under review the contribution was affirmative, because production had normalised,” reads the SB report.