Fiscal boost as diamond sales recover
Friday, January 13, 2017
Shot in the arm: Finance misnister Kenneth Matambo is expected to deliver the 2017/ 18 budget speech next month PIC: TSELE TSEBETSAME
Latest financial statistics from the Bank of Botswana show that, thanks to higher mineral revenues, the national budget recorded a P1.65 billion quarterly surplus in the three months ending September 2016.
This was the first quarterly budget surplus since the three months ending March 2015 and it was largely driven by P14 billion tax revenue, which includes mineral royalties and dividends.
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...