Author

Mbongeni Mguni
Financial Journalist

Twitter: @MboBW

Email: [email protected]
  • The real victory hidden in Masisi’s vaccine lab deal

    Policymakers involved in sharpening the country’s competitiveness and ‘ease of doing business’ environment were left smarting last April when social media giant, Twitter, chose Ghana to be its African headquarters.While frontrunners for the...

  • Four years of Masisinomics

    When assuming the presidency on April 1, 2018, Masisi would never have imagined that his tenure would experience the sharpest economic drop the economy has suffered since Independence or the largest loss of jobs since that time.Economists have penned...

  • Russian sanctions unsettle diamond power politics

    The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, encompassing all major diamond producers in its membership of 82 countries and NGOs, was set up nearly 20 years ago to root out conflict diamonds from the global market.In recent years, meetings of the...

  • Two years later, COVID-19 remains a never-ending nightmare

    No one in the country’s health sector is even inclined to say COVID-19 is over. Or abating. Or becoming less of a threat.Even as cases dip considerably below 10 per 100,000 as a countrywide average, no one is willing to make such emphatic and...

  • Youths cry foul as debate rages over Chobe River lodges

    The youths recently wrote a complaint to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, adding their voices to a heated matter already pitting ecologists against land authorities. Plans by the environment and tourism ministry to open up 240,000sqm of...

  • Gov’t trims debt target to P500m for March

    According to a notice published this week, the BoB is due to offer three bonds ranging in maturity from five to 18 years, although technically, the central bank could add shorter-term treasury bills to the line-up of Friday’s auction or increase...

  • Pula Steel bounces back to life

    Pula Steel’s liquidation has dragged since it closed in 2017, just two years after it was built at a cost of P130 million strained by financial and technical challenges, particularly the shortage of its raw material, scrap metal.The latest sale...

  • Storm brews over planned lodges on Chobe River front

    The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism has invited 100% citizen owned businesses and consortiums to submit expressions of interest for eight new tourism sites along the Chobe River front, with a closing date due on...

  • Minergy upbeat as 300MW coal tender nears award

    The 300MW tender is the last coal-fired electricity government will procure, according to the Integrated Resource Plan, which maps out all power sources the public purse will pursue until 2040.Of the four coal developers shortlisted for the tender,...

  • COVID-19 vaccines face expiry from April

    In January, health authorities announced that all the vaccines ordered by the country since the life-saving medication became available, had arrived in the country creating a stockpile in hand of three million doses.Most adults received their full or...

  • Inflation stays put at 13-year high

    The current inflation rate represents the highest level since March 2009 and has been driven by a range of increases in administered prices last year, in particular, fuel prices which rose five times in 2021.In its last review in late February, the...

  • Chobe Zambezi dream moves closer to reality

    All the dams that can plausibly be built in the country, have already been built, says Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) CEO, Gaselemogwe Senai.At present and forecast rates of consumption, these dams are sufficient to supply the country until about...

  • How the Russia, Ukraine war will hit your pocket

    As at the end of February, authorities at the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA), estimate the local petrol pump prices were, on average, P1.25 below the actual cost of supplying the fuel. Diesel prices were on average P1.49 below cost while...

  • Letshego aims to be pan-African digital giant

    From its traditions as a deduction at source business targetting the civil service, Letshego has expanded over the years to the mass marketing of its credit products and also financing of small to medium enterprises.The microlender has also grown its...

  • Gov’t confirms P560m of COVID-19 bailout lying unused

    This comes more than a year after the funds were announced as part of the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP). Government unveiled a P1.3 billion Industry Support Fund (ISF) in November 2020 targetted at the hardest-hit sectors of the...

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