A P21 billion "free lunch"

On February 8, 2011, a day after the presentation of the 2011/12 national budget, prominent economist, Keith Jefferis, made a prophetic statement which was recently fulfilled by events in the local economy."There's no immediate concern, although there will be if the situation persists in the long-term," Jefferis said of the country's rolling trade deficits at an FNBB post-budget discussion.

"If the deficits continue, the foreign reserves will cater for them; although this is not a free lunch." Nearly two years to the day the statement was made, the Bank of Botswana (BoB) revealed that it drew P21 billion from the Pula Fund - a sovereign wealth asset housing national savings - to finance the country's import bill and external debts.