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
GBV: The big elephant in the room

Sadly, the country seems not to have proper tools and the extent to which women and the girl-child are being abused is not adequately measured.Almost every week there are reports of women being attacked by their significant others and while men are attacked as well, women seem to be more on the receiving end.On May 24, 2023 news broke that a woman who was receiving support from the Botswana Gender-Based Violence Prevention Centre in Gaborone, was...

Have a Story? Send Us a tip
arrow up