Trade deficit widens on higher imports

Botswana exports rough diamonds from its major producer, Debswana to London for aggregation, before importing parcels for on-sale to the 16 cutting and polishing firms resident in Botswana.  Thus diamonds appear on trade figures as both exports and imports.

Figures released by Statistics Botswana last week indicate that imports in May rose by 41 percent to P5.06 billion powered by resurgent diamond imports.  The performance widened the overall trade deficit to P1.4 billion.