De Beers optimistic despite Omicron threat

As the country’s most important economic actor, De Beers co-owns Debswana with the Government of Botswana and earnings from the local mines are the principal anchors of national budget revenues and foreign exchange. This year, it is expected that government’s original forecast of P20.3 billion in mineral revenues will be exceeded due to a rebound in rough diamond sales.

However, the imposition of travel bans on Botswana by key rough diamond markets such as the United States and India, in response to the Omicron threat, has caused anxiety in the industry, which had been recovering well from the COVID-19 induced downturn of 2020.