GDP numbers sparkle, but household and business struggle
Friday, December 22, 2017
Pic. KAGISO ONKATSWITSE
In September, the Ministry of Finance officials revised the 2017 growth estimate to 4.7% from 4.2% projected in February as higher output from the services sectors and the end of a drought eased pressure on major industries.
But numbers show that households and business are increasingly playing a lesser role in driving the economy and analysts believe the anomaly between the sparkling economic growth numbers and the struggling household is a reflection of Botswana’s economic structural set up.
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...