Statistics Botswana figures released last week indicate that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of economic activity, slowed to a negative 0.5 percent year on year in the second quarter, after a -5.3 percent performance in the first quarter. Two successive quarters of negative economic activity are a technical recession, but for Botswana, the impact could have been steeper without the contribution of the non-mining sector.
According to the data agency, the contribution of mining and quarrying activities contracted by 16.5% in the second quarter, weighed down by base metals as well as diamonds.
