Government plugs budget deficit with domestic funds
Friday, October 21, 2016
Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo will not need to look outside for budget funding
Available statistics show that government has been regularly drawing down on its deposits at the Bank of Botswana (BoB) with P3 billion having been withdrawn in the first three months of the 2016/17 financial years.
On the other hand, at least P2 billion has been borrowed from the local capital markets since June this year through issuance of government bonds and Treasury Bills.
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...