The 2020/21 Budget Speech: An Introduction

When the 2020 Budget Speech was delivered in February 2020, Botswana had not yet registered it’s first COVID-19 case. There had been one suspected case registered at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. Unconfirmed. Not yet as terrifying. We were watching from our screens, with the freedom only definable now, by “times long passed”, as Italy, China and the United Kingdom were struggling to keep their heads above water with the virus.

There were significant hints that the world economies would take a hit, with entire national lockdowns, closures of boarders, limited travel and global panic. It was also weeks before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.