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The latest edition of the Bank of Botswana's (BoB) quarterly Business Expectations Survey indicates a drop in overall optimism among businesses between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of this year. The survey was carried out...

Cryptocurrency operators are required to be licensed with NBFIRA by May 25 or face fines of up to P250,000 and/or five years in jail, under the recently passed Virtual Assets Act.Yellow Card, a cryptocurrency exchange that allows clients to buy, sell...

The increase is the first in the country since 2008, from which point interest rates had gradually been declining to the current record low levels.The increase, announced after a Monetary Policy Committee meeting yesterday, means any borrowers whose...

The carbon tax was first mooted in the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan approved by Parliament in September 2020, while the digital tax was proposed in the Budget Strategy Paper of October 2020.Giving an update on the digital tax at a BURS...

The latest projections are contained in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday and follow from the October WEO. The IMF’s latest forecast is the same level that the Finance and Economic Development ministry projected in...

Whenever the issue of regional industrialisation is discussed at SACU level, the elephant in the room is the domination of Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini by South Africa.Critics of SACU, which is the world’s oldest customs union, say to...

In a televised address, Masisi announced the creation of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, while mandates of other ministries were either merged or moved within Cabinet. The new Cabinet has 18 ministries, which is the same number as the previous...

Harvard law professor, Matthew Stephenson says where the criminals of yesteryear used to hide their loot in suitcases under mattresses, cryptocurrencies have removed the limits of both the suitcases and the mattresses.“If the suitcase full of cash...

Figures released recently by Statistics Botswana show that inflation eased to 10% in March, from 10.6% in February, both of those levels representing 13-year highs.The drop in March was largely due to lower movements across the various goods and...

When the world’s diamond producers, their biggest customers, civil society groups monitoring the industry and others, meet in Gaborone in June to discuss issues affecting the image of the precious stones, Russia will be the proverbial elephant in...

The funds, detailed in a Country Strategy Paper released this week, are expected to rise when authorities finalise the second part of an Economic Recovery Support Programme later this year. Under the first phase of the programme, government received...

This comes as the Virtual Asset Act and its regulations came into effect on February 25, with a grace period of three months for operators to regularise.The new Act and its regulations make Botswana one of a handful of countries in the world to...

Yesterday, officials at the tax agency said the improved collections were helped by higher contributions from income taxes and Value Added Tax (VAT).VAT was increased to 14% in April 2021, while the withholding tax on dividends was increased to 10%...

Vision Ridge, a unit of India’s Yashomann Industries, recently sealed a P16 million deal to takeover Pula Steel, a liquidated Selebi-Phikwe plant that was using scrap metal to produce an intermediary product known as steel billets. The new buyer...

Additionally, HATAB believes the developments will restrict animal movements and place increased pressure on already threatened species such as the Chobe Bushbuck.The 38-year-old industry body, which represents 50% of all licensed hospitality and...