Botswana jumps out of recession

The Central Statistics Office yesterday announced that Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 1.3 percent in June 2009, the same rate as that observed in June 2008.GDP is a primary health indicator of an economy that shows the total market value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

Following the slipping of the economy into recession in March, figures from the CSO show that quarterly real GDP increased from P6.181 billion in June 2008 to P6.260 billion in June 2009, representing a 1.3 percent increase.On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew by 20.4 percent from P5.199 billion in in March to P6.260 billion in June, putting an end to the technical recession period.However, although the 1.3 percent real GDP growth would be a welcome development for the economy, the heavy 20.3 percent fall in the first quarter means that the economy is still a long way from where it was before the recession.