Author

Mbongeni Mguni
Financial Journalist

Twitter: @MboBW

Email: [email protected]
  • Premium Nickel to raise P350m for BCL revival

    In a notice this week, the Canadian firm said it would offer a combination of shares and, warrants to potential investors in a private placement that will close in early March 2025. Premium Resources intends to offer up to 120 million units at 30...

  • Mobile money transactions top P33bn

    Mobile money services, currently offered by Orange, Mascom, Botswana Telecommunications Limited, and BotswanaPost, are amongst the fastest growing solutions in the financial sector, witnessing increasing transaction values on an annual basis.The...

  • BPC secures an additional P1.2bn subsidy

    In the original Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP) which was due to run from April 2023 to March 31, 2025, the BPC was due for a subsidy of P1 billion. However, the Corporation in August 2023 secured an extra P1.18 billion through...

  • Segoditshane River: Gaborone’s problem child

    On Wednesday, Segoditshane River did what it has frequently done over the years – breach its banks, run over its old, low-lying bridges, and flood the capital city.Frustrated Gaborone residents found themselves stuck and stranded wherever they...

  • BoB leans towards ‘looser’ interest rate policy

    The accommodative monetary policy stance is made possible by the Bank’s projections that inflation this year will trend either below or within the three to six percent objective range.“Inflation is expected to remain within the medium-term...

  • Govt mulls off-grid solar for remote villages

    Government has a long-term Rural Electrification Programme, which began in 1975 and has been the cornerstone of the country’s rural development strategy. By last August, 462 out of 565 villages were connected to the national grid, with detailed...

  • Debswana probes fronting in P21bn CEEP programme

    “Debswana is currently in the process of sourcing for a consultant for the provision of anti-fronting investigation for Debswana,” Agatha Sejoe, senior Corporate Affairs Manager (Brand and Stakeholder Relations) said in a written response to...

  • Gov't greenlights new Sovereign Wealth Fund

    Whilst the country currently has the Pula Fund acting as a fiscal buffer and a store of reserves for future generations, experts have said the fund has structural weaknesses, which include the lack of commitments around deposits and poor control of...

  • Bank profits near record P4bn mark

    Local banks’ collective profits have broken historic records in two of the three years since the pandemic year of 2020, defying COVID-19 impacts and downturns in the economy. Nearly all entities in the sector are digitising and boosting their...

  • CCA clears Bomaid’s MRI deal

    Currently, MRI is owned by Botswana Medical Aid (Bomaid), the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, and individuals. Bomaid, through its investment arm, Southview, holds the majority stake of MRI at 94%, whilst MVA Fund owns four percent and the individual...

  • Debswana confirms 500 voluntary exits

    The diamond group, whose activities are the backbone of the country’s economy, has been battling a prolonged global downturn in demand for the precious stones. The slump, dating back to the third quarter of 2023, has placed operational pressures on...

  • Diamond sales drop 46% in 2024

    Last year’s performance is the worst since COVID-19 when sales dropped to P23.7 billion. However, in terms of percentage drop, the 46% fall in 2024 appears to be amongst the steepest on record.Debswana accounts for more than 95% of the country’s...

  • Gaolathe to Gaolathe: Budgeting through a crisis

    Excerpts from the late Baledzi Gaolathe’s last budget speech are strikingly similar to the themes and statements made in more recent years by the country’s finance ministers when describing the generally leaner budget and economic trends.At the...

  • Technocrats struggle to hammer budget figures together

    The 2025-26 budget estimates released in December are just that – estimates. The figures are precariously based on best, worse and base case scenarios for key revenue lines such as mining, Southern African Customs Union (SACU) receipts and other...

  • De Beers’ 100-days gift to Boko

    De Beers and the Government of Botswana this week announced the finalisation of long-drawn out talks for a new diamond agreement. Dating back to 2019, the talks were, at various points, fraught with tensions to the point where, reportedly, both...

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