Botswana slips in Africa Financial Markets Index
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday October 19, 2026 06:00
The Index, the tenth edition, was launched in Bangkok, Thailand, early on Wednesday morning as global leaders meet for the IMF and World Bank annual meetings.
Produced by Absa in partnership with the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), the Index assesses the accessibility, openness, and transparency of financial markets across 29 African economies.
Despite the decline in its overall ranking, Botswana recorded progress in developing its financial market infrastructure, including holding its first government securities investor roadshow and launching a commodities exchange connected to the Pan-African exchange linkage.
The initiatives are intended to strengthen investor engagement and broaden opportunities for trading and investment.
However, the country continues to face challenges across several areas assessed by the index, including market depth, pension fund development, the macroeconomic environment, and legal and regulatory frameworks.
Botswana scored 53 points for market depth, 63 for pension fund development, and 54 for legal standards and enforceability. Its score for market transparency, taxation, and the regulatory environment stood at 79, whilst the macroeconomic environment and transparency category recorded 73 points.
Inflation emerged as a significant concern during the period under review, rising sharply to 10.7% from two percent. This contributed to Botswana dropping from fourth to 15th position under the macroeconomic environment pillar.
'A survey participant from Botswana identified persistent inflationary pressures arising from global trade tensions and imported inflation as key economic challenges facing the country,' reads the index’s report.
Meanwhile, Botswana maintained a strong position in pension fund accumulation, recording the highest pension assets per working-age person amongst the 29 countries assessed.
The country's pension assets increased by approximately $762 per working-age person to $7,537, reflecting the growing pool of investment capital available through pension funds.
According to the index, the repatriation of offshore assets had increased the domestic allocation of pension funds and broadened the range of products available in local capital markets.
Namibia and Eswatini led the pension fund development rankings, whilst several African countries continued encouraging portfolio diversification and expanding pension coverage to accelerate asset accumulation and deepen domestic markets.
Botswana also maintained a relatively low external debt-to-GDP ratio of 13.7%, compared with the index median of 32.5%. Namibia recorded the lowest ratio at 9.8 percent, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo at 13.6%.
The report further highlighted progress in market transparency, noting that 21 countries, including Botswana, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, achieved full scores for reporting standards.
This suggests that basic frameworks for communications, foreign exchange rules and market information are becoming more established across the continent.
Supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Absa Index covers economies representing approximately 80% of Africa's population and gross domestic product.
It evaluates countries across six pillars: market depth, access to foreign exchange, market transparency, pension fund development, the macroeconomic environment, and legal standards, taxation, and the regulatory environment.