Diamond slump: Budget likely to fall into deficit
Friday, August 14, 2015
Sluggish sentiment in the market has seen both De Beers and the Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) sales falling by over 20 percent in the first half of the year.
Backed by projections of a 10 percent growth in minerals revenues to P19 billion, Finance minister Kenneth Matambo in February, announced forecasts of a P1.23 billion 2015-2016-budget surplus.
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...