10 February 2025
Botswana’s economy is forecast to grow 3.3% this year after a contraction in 2024, due to an expected recovery in the global diamond market, its finance minister said on Monday, echoing calls to diversify the economy away from precious stones.
Botswana is the world’s leading producer of diamonds by value and its economy largely depends on diamond exports. Declining earnings have limited government spending.
“This growth outlook is premised on the recovery of the diamond industry, which is expected in the latter part of 2025, and continued a positive sentiment in the non-diamond mining sectors,” Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe said in a budget speech.
The southern African country’s economy is estimated to have shrunk by 3.1% last year, Gaolathe said, which is a bigger contraction than the 1.7% forecast in December by the government.
Gaolathe said the budget deficit for the 2025/26 financial year running from April to March was estimated to fall to 7.56% of gross domestic product (GDP), lower than the current financial year’s estimated deficit of 9% of GDP.
Source: https://shorturl.at/f7bxo
