Foreign Reserves Slide Again

From highs of P72.2 billion in October 2008 - just before the recession - the country's foreign reserves sank to P55.3 billion last May, continuing a pattern of general decline averaging one billion Pula per month during that period. The deterioration in foreign reserves was mainly as a result of government digging deep to finance the P13.5 billion deficit, which was part of a fiscal decision to speed the country's way out of the recession.

During the process, foreign reserves took a hard knock as reflected by Bank of Botswana statistics unveiled last Friday. According to the data, foreign reserves improved from September to October last year, reaching P61.5 billion