Author

Mbongeni Mguni
Financial Journalist

Twitter: @MboBW

Email: [email protected]
  • First seasonal forecast points to healthy rains ahead

    The forecasts emerged this week as weather scientists from SADC finalised their annual meeting held prior to the onset of the rain season. The Southern African Regional Climate Outlook (SARCOF) meeting, held in Zambia this year, concluded on Thursday...

  • FNBB engages gov't on economic constraints

    FNBB is comfortably the country’s biggest bank by all metrics, boasting a customer base of more than 700,000 and a loan book of P20.6 billion as at June 2025. For the year to June, FNBB’s pretax profits rose six percent to P1.9 billion, defying...

  • Investors cautious as earnings season kicks off

    Listed companies are expected to begin reporting their interim and full-year results this month, and already, several major counters have announced that they expect lower returns. Absa Bank Botswana expects its pretax profits to be down by as much as...

  • A ‘tarrific’ opportunity for Botswana

    India, which accounts for 90% of cutting and polishing activities in the industry, presently has one of the highest tariffs for entry to the US at 50%, while another major centre China, has equally been hit at about 30%.Other diamond centres such as...

  • Taylor Swift, Ronaldo and the enduring allure of diamonds

    Under the Luanda Accord signed by Botswana, De Beers, other African diamond producers and the Natural Diamond Council recently, all members will contribute one percent of their revenues to an industry-wide, global marketing campaign.That campaign is...

  • More join the super-rich ranks in Botswana

    According to data released last week by Henley & Partners in partnership with wealth intelligence firm, New World Wealth, the numbers of the super-rich are growing in the country.The Africa Wealth Report is the continent’s most comprehensive...

  • Gov’t to revise spending as H1 wraps up

    At the time of the original 2025–2026 budget speech in February, government expected revenues to reach P75.5 billion, with minerals contributing P15.8 billion or about 21%. The budget was due to carry a deficit of P22.1 billion or 7.6 percent of...

  • Ninety One eyes P2bn in private credit opportunities

    The local financial market has been weighed down by a liquidity crisis since last year, mainly owing to reduced government spending amidst the prolonged downturn in diamonds.Private credit, meanwhile, which involves non-bank entities such as pension...

  • A stitch in time to save lives

    The establishment of a P5 billion fund and emergency mechanisms to resolve the long-boiling crisis in the country’s public health sector, could not have come sooner.The majority of the country’s population depends on the public healthcare system...

  • Inflation seen inching higher

    The central bank now expects inflation next year to average 5.9 percent, up from the 4.6 percent forecast in June.Speaking at a briefing held after the August Monetary Policy Committee meeting last week, BoB governor, Cornelius Dekop, said the...

  • Govt to formally distinguish natural diamonds from synthetics

    “We have been lobbying and discussing with our partners around the world on what is needed for differentiation. “As we were busy engaging partners, we also realised that our legal framework here needs a lot more tweaking to accommodate the...

  • Why a bidding war has erupted over Mupane

    On August 26, bidders lock horns on whose offer is the best to take over Mupane Gold Mine, the country’s sole gold operation where operations have been suspended since March 2024.According to documents circulating recently, of the ten companies...

  • BoB engages banks on rates, sounds warning

    “We continuously have consultations with commercial banks to discourage interest rate changes which are counter to monetary policy stance and economic situation, as well as other stakeholders to address unwarranted price increases,” Governor...

  • De Beers sees India, SE Asia as future demand drivers

    De Beers, the company most responsible for the value assigned to natural diamonds and boasting the most diamond discoveries ever on Earth, has become almost preternaturally adept at forecasting where demand for the stones will come from in the...

  • BPOPF plans greater local capital injections

    BPOPF CEO, Moemedi Malindah, told BusinessWeek that the fund was alive to the economic challenges in the country, as well as the need to be more active in stimulating activity that will spur employment creation.“We cannot act as though we are...

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