Balance of payments surplus rises to P5.5 billion

The balance of payments, or Botswana's net financial position with the rest of the world, has been in deficit since 2008, with trade imports heavily outweighing exports and net international investment earnings waning due to the recession.A P4.6 billion Pula deficit in 2009 followed by another P6.5 billion last year forced government to dip into foreign currency reserves, as well as borrow US$1.5 billion (P10.05 billion) from the African Development Bank.

However this year, the state of national accounts returned to surplus in the first quarter at P2.8 billion, before rising to the latest Bank of Botswana (BoB) estimate of P5.5 billion for the year up to July. The central bank estimates that for the month of July, the balance of payments was in surplus at P1.97 billion.