Moody’s sees a wider budget deficit for Botswana

Kenneth Matambo
Kenneth Matambo

Botswana’s projected P4 billion budget deficit for the 2015/16 financial year could turn out to be much larger due to the downturn in the diamond market, credit rating agency, Moody’s says.

The 2016-2017 Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) released by the finance ministry last week, estimates the economy to grow by 2.6 percent while the budget balance is now seen posting a deficit of P4.03 billion or 2.6 percent of GDP.

In February, finance minister Kenneth Matambo announced a growth target of 4.9 percent for 2015, while the budget was seen posting a surplus of P1.23 billion or 0.8 percent of GDP. The revision of the 2015/16 budget outrun was largely attributed to a P3 billion fall in SACU revenues, which are paid in advance for the 2015, from the original estimate of P16.34 billion (29.5 percent of GDP) to P13.75 (26.6 percent of GDP).

Editor's Comment
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