How the U.S put hard money into Botswana�s diamond dream

Barclays is taking a first tranche out of a total available guarantee of $250 million. Together with the $83-million matching banking partner share, this guarantees an availability of $333 million of credit for Botswana’s manufacturers – only for manufacturing – which is well above the industry’s foreseeable requirements. Eventually, it is expected, other banks in Botswana will join the programme, providing a new rationale to diamond manufacturing in the country. Botswana’s main attraction will be credit – not just rough diamonds! Diamond Intelligence Briefs made the following report available to BusinessWeek