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BoB! Stop raising rates and focus on fuel costs

Testing times: The Bank of Botswana has raised interest rates three times this year but inflation continues to rise PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Testing times: The Bank of Botswana has raised interest rates three times this year but inflation continues to rise PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

In the Mmegi edition of June 24, 2022, I wrote about how the Bank of Botswana (BoB) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoF) needed to think outside the box about how to fight rampant inflation.

At that time, we had seen the BoB raise its Monetary Policy Rate by 50 basis points (0.5%) in order to try to slow down inflation in the economy.

In that article, I had written about how following textbook economics, this move could be argued as correct but if you looked at the type of inflation being experienced and the current poor economic situation where the average Motswana is struggling, this might not have been the best move.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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