Recession: The worst not over yet for the consumer

On 15 September 2008, Lehman Brothers 'died', sending already unstable markets into an uncontrollable tailspin, shortage of credit followed, commodity prices plummeted and the worst global recession in the past 70 years ensued.

Botswana was not left unscathed, diamond sales collapsed to the point that Debswana put its mines into care and maintenance, government revenue dried up resulting in a country that used to pride itself for perennial budget surpluses borrowing to cover a gaping P13.4 billion deficit.