Author

Brian Benza
  • Services sector anchors economic growth

    Data released by Statistics Botswana (SB) this week shows that economic growth as measured by Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) went up by 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2015 compared to 3.4 percent realised in the same quarter in...

  • Diamond exports soften on sluggish market

    According to financial statistics released by the Bank of Botswana, the country exported $846 million worth of diamonds in the first quarter of 2015 compared to over $919m in the same period in 2014 while the first quarter exports were also 20...

  • BPOPF buys 20% of Puma Energy for P300m

    Sitting on an asset base of P51 billion, BPOPF has 35 percent of its funds invested in Botswana through equities, bonds, property and private equity. Speaking to BusinessWeek on the sidelines of the launch of the fund’s whistle blowing...

  • CA approves Choppies directors� P450m deal

    A consortium of investors led by the Standard Chartered Private Equity Mauritius, is tying up the deal to buy Spark Capital, a company created to house the nine firms, most of which are Suppliers to the Choppies Enterprises. Apart from their...

  • BPOPF�s delicate balancing act

    Sitting on an asset base worth as much as P51 billion ($5 billion), the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) is one of the largest pension funds in sub-Saharan Africa.  About 35 percent of these funds are invested in Botswana. Although...

  • Alexander Forbes loses lucrative BPOPF deal

    The services, which include collection of members’ contributions and administration of benefits, are currently outsourced to Alexander Forbes Financials Services. Speaking to Mmegi Business on the sidelines of the launch of the fund’s...

  • BoB fines banks P1m for breaching liquidity limits

    “Towards the end of 2014, some banks experienced significant short-term liquidity shortages, to the extent that their liquid assets to total deposits ratio fell below the statutory prescribed limit. Consistent with the Banking Act, a monetary...

  • Botswana ranked Africa�s preferred retail address

    According to the authoritative 2015 AT Kearney Africa Retail Development Index (ARDI), which ranks the top 15 African countries according to market attractiveness for retail expansion, only Gabon is more attractive than...

  • Budget deficit seen narrowing in 2016

    In a revised 2016-2017 Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) released yesterday, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning said the proposed budget for 2016-2017 financial year projects total revenues and grants to reach P55.69 billion, an increase of...

  • Gvt weighs Khoemacau 15% stake option

    The mining company, which bought off Boseto Mine from Discovery Metals this year, is building a 50,000 tonnes a year copper mine near Somelo, in the northwest. Khoemacau regional manager, Johannes Tsimako told BusinessWeek that the government has...

  • Banks profitability tumbles

    According to a 2014 Banking Supervision Annual Report released on Monday, the banking sector’s after-tax profit decreased by a significant 16.7 percent to P1.5 billion last year due to a low interest rates environment coupled with a high rise...

  • Banks innovate to woo cheaper deposits

    As the liquidity dearth heightened in the past year, commercial banks have found themselves paying astronomical interest rates to attract funds, a cost that is chomping into their profit figures. For the full year to June 2015, FNBB saw its interest...

  • BIHL declares bumper P154m dividend

    In the first six months of the year, BIHL’s revenues breached the P2 billion mark largely on the back of a significant 68 percent jump in the life insurance division’s annuity business. “The directors have declared a dividend of 55...

  • New diamond cutting firm opens shop

    With a staff compliment of 90, KGK will cut and polish diamonds worth an average $1.5 million every month. Officially opening KGK’s factory, which is situated at Gaborone’s Diamond Technology Park, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and...

  • Choppies� bosses in P450m payout

    Choppies directors Ramachandran Ottapathu and Farouk Ismail are in line for a bumper P452 million pay cheque from the disposal of their shareholding in nine companies related to the listed retail giant.  In a transaction currently being...

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