Higher BoB revenues pull budget out of deficit
Wednesday, November 08, 2017
Bank of Botswana
In the last State of the National Address before he leaves office next year, President Ian Khama on Monday said the final estimates for the 2016/17, government budgets show a surplus of P1.1 billion, compared to a revised budget estimate of a deficit of P1.12 billion.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development was expecting to run budget deficits from 2015 to 2020, and the new surplus figures break the deficits forecast.
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...