Blinging down Botswana economy

It’s a long way from New York’s Madison Avenue advertising agencies to Gaborone, but for Botswana a lot is riding on the success of the ad campaign De Beers will launch in the coming weeks.

Like oil-exporting countries now mired in deficits because their annual budgets were predicated on oil priced at $100 a barrel that’s now well below $50, Botswana faces a similar conundrum created by a drop in the sale and prices of its rough diamonds. Diamonds account for about a third of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), 80 percent of exports and 40 percent of the entire government’s revenues. Last week, Botswana’s Ministry of Finance cut its GDP growth forecast for 2015 to 2.6 percent from an earlier projection of 4.9 percent. The treasury also revised its budget to post a deficit as a percentage of GDP to 1.1 percent for fiscal year 2015/16 rather than the surplus initially touted.

“The downside risk to these projections continues to be the country’s high dependence on diamonds, whose demand and prices are subject to global fluctuations,” the ministry wrote in a 2016/17 budget-strategy paper published September 11.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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