Trade balance swings into deficit

According to figures released by Statistics Botswana, a trade deficit of P175.9 million was recorded in July from a surplus of P2.6 billion the previous month. Total exports were valued at P5.1 billion in July 2016, showing a decrease of 40% from the June 2016 revised value of P8.49 billion.

“This is attributable to decrease in exports of diamonds, which recorded a drop of 42% from P7.54 billion recorded during June 2016 to P4.37 billion during the month under review,” Statistics Botswana stated. Diamond exports predominantly comprise  rough production from Debswana mines as well as output from the country’s three other independent ones.  On a year-on-year basis, comparison of July 2016 total exports to that of July 2015 shows an increase of 11%. This is mainly attributable to exports of diamonds, which increased by 18.6% from P3.69 billion during July 2015 to P4.37 billion during July 2016.