Botswana vulnerable as food prices soar in SA
Thursday, January 28, 2016
The country, which imports over 70 percent of its food requirements from its neighbour, is likely to record similar price increases, although the depreciating Rand might temper the rate of increase for Botswana imports.
Local inflation rose from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent in December while the one for South Africa rose to a one-year high of 5.2 percent from 4.8 percent in November on the back of a weaker Rand and food price pressures.
It is a clear signal that the government’s purse is empty and that our own behaviour has left veterinary officials fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. We have been here before. During COVID-19, many of us thought we knew better. We ignored simple rules, we carried on as if the danger was someone else’s problem, and the virus took lives and left our economy on its knees. We are still broke from that experience. Yet now, with FMD...