The reserves, managed by the Bank of Botswana (BoB), dropped to a record low of P3.3 billion in December 2020 due to withdrawals by treasury to finance the pandemic response. The reserves were measured at P18.3 billion in April 2020 when the virus...
A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a digital form of central bank money that is widely available to the general public. Instead of only printing money, a central bank like the BoB would issue electronic coins or accounts backed by the full...
The country’s single largest investment fund, the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), holds 30.9% equity in Letshego and wants three new nominees on the microlender’s board. Meanwhile, the country’s largest and most diversified...
Russia’s ambassador to Botswana, Andrey Kemarskiy, was scheduled to leave for Kasane on Thursday ahead of the week-long meeting of a top diamond industry organisation, whose members include both Moscow’s friends and foes, as well as the ongoing...
The telecomms group, the trading of whose shares is limited to citizens, plunged to the record low of 65 thebe at the beginning of May, continuing a general downtrend since it listed at P1.15 in 2016.However, in the past month, BTCL’s share price...
Inflation was measured at 9.6 percent in April, having come down from 10% in March and 10.6% in both February and January.Data released by Statistics Botswana this morning (Wednesday) indicates that the biggest contributor to the latest inflation...
North Korea. This is the only country a leading elephant conservation biologist says would be the sole target market in the world for any ivory Southern Africa states may want to sell.The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species...
The 2021–2022 final budget outcome is due in August and should it be achieved, the surplus would be the first in the country’s books since the 2016–2017 financial year. In her February budget speech, (Finance) Minister Peggy Serame had...
Austria and China are also bidding to host the two-decade-old diamond group’s secretariat and lobbying is intensifying ahead of a vote scheduled for one of the Kimberley Process’ upcoming meetings. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is...
The amount raised at the auction was 74% of the total P1.5 billion offered by the central bank to bidders at the auction, compared to 59% allotted in the April auction. Minimal movements in yields were seen in the auction, while Kgori Capital...
The latest Bank of Botswana figures released recently indicate that the difference between the two periods was higher net interest income and lower provisions for bad or doubtful debts.The banks’ performance in the first quarter of the year...
Briefing members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee this afternoon, the ministry’s permanent secretary, Grace Muzila said authorities were seriously concerned about the numbers of cases and admissions, in recent weeks.She revealed that as...
KP, consisting of 85 countries, diamond producers, observer groups, and civic organisations, is the diamond industry’s broadest and most authoritative grouping, enjoying the backing of the United Nations (UN).While the West has sanctioned Russian...
Cynics of economic growth figures frequently cite the quote made famous by US literary legend Mark Twain: “'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics”.When Statistics Botswana recently announced that the local economy...
The poor response comes as a report from the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) indicates a 400% increase in the value of suspicious transaction reports received last year, with cryptocurrency scams leading the pack.Under the Virtual Assets Act...