Botswana records first trade surplus in 20 months

October 2008 marked the onset of a 10-month recession driven largely by a 20.9 percent contraction in the mining sector, which constitutes more than a third of the Gross Domestic Product. During that period, Botswana witnessed heavy trade deficits, running into P4 billion in the first quarter of 2009, as the value of imports greatly outweighed that of exports.

However, the CSO's recent data indicates that exports for June 2010 at P3.48 billion outweighed imports for the same month at P3.28 billion, enabling the country to declare a trade surplus for the first time since September 2008.