An economy haemorrhaging jobs

After two consecutive years of economic contraction, researchers at the Bank of Botswana (BoB) are warning that labour market conditions have likely deteriorated further, with the modest employment gains recorded in early 2024 expected to have been wiped out by weakness in the private sector.

The warning is contained in the central bank’s latest Monetary Policy Report, paints a picture of an economy caught between cyclical decline and deeply rooted structural weaknesses. At the centre of the crisis is the prolonged downturn in the diamond industry, a sector that remains the backbone of Botswana’s economy and whose struggles are increasingly spilling over into the rest of the labour market.