De Beers banks on deep pockets to ride out Covid crisis

With rising orders already noted ahead of the festive season and executives speaking of ‘pent up demand’ De Beers hopes to soon bounce back from a slump in revenue that saw its earnings for the first half of the year drop by 54%  year-on-year to $1.2 billion (P13.2 billion).

De Beers, which is a 50/50 partner with government in Debswana, is amongst the principal anchors of government revenues through dividends, royalties and taxes.  Government’s latest figures show that from expected mineral revenues of P20 billion in 2020/21, fiscal authorities now expect about P10.5 billion, due largely to the closure of borders and the slump in global demand as a result of COVID-19.