Foreign reserves hit four-year high

At their May level and at the given prevailing average import bill, the reserves are equivalent to approximately 12 months of import cover.Bank of Botswana figures released on Wednesday indicate that while foreign reserves in May were approximately two percent higher than April, they represented a five percent increase from January and a nine percent jump from May 2012.

Although the central bank's data is not qualitative, analysts have attributed the healthier reserves to a strong start to 2013 in diamond trade, which was also reflected in the declaration of three trade surpluses in the first four months of the year. Statistics Botswana data indicates that total diamond exports, a category which covers re-exports, those produced locally, rough and polished stones, reached P14.3 billion in the first quarter of the year.This is compared to P9.8 billion in the last quarter of 2012. For April, total diamond exports were pegged at P5.6 billion.