The BURS study, revealed at a recent media briefing recently, indicates that the tax losses could measure up to five percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an economic indicator that for 2021 was estimated at just under P200...
In line with the rules of ‘commercial diplomacy’ De Beers has visibly been wary of commenting directly on the developments around its chief rival Alrosa, the part-Russian government-owned group hit by sanctions from the West due to the invasion...
Debswana’s targets for its Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme (CEEP) are bold. Having started CEEP in 2019, the country’s premier diamond producer plans to reach P20 billion in citizen spend value by 2024 and create 20,000 citizen jobs in the...
Figures provided by Statistics Botswana recently indicate that diamonds anchored growth last year, as both resurgent demand for the precious stones and relaxed border movements helped the sector’s performance.“Diamond Traders recorded a massive...
Ghaghoo, which was the country’s first underground diamond mine, was placed under care and maintenance in February 2017 due to depressed diamond prices. At least 250 workers had their contracts terminated as a result.Okwa Diamonds, an entity owned...
From its official discovery in 1998, the country’s sole gold mine has changed ownership three times. Each time, corporate executives in pressed suits have gathered with their legal armies and exchanged documents in air-conditioned offices in...
If a Jwaneng Mine-sized diamond deposit is hidden undiscovered anywhere in the world, De Beers is confident it will be the company to find it. And with good reason.Since its establishment 134 years ago, the global giant that almost single-handedly...
The latest edition of the Bank of Botswana's (BoB) quarterly Business Expectations Survey indicates a drop in overall optimism among businesses between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of this year. The survey was carried out...
Cryptocurrency operators are required to be licensed with NBFIRA by May 25 or face fines of up to P250,000 and/or five years in jail, under the recently passed Virtual Assets Act.Yellow Card, a cryptocurrency exchange that allows clients to buy, sell...
The increase is the first in the country since 2008, from which point interest rates had gradually been declining to the current record low levels.The increase, announced after a Monetary Policy Committee meeting yesterday, means any borrowers whose...
The carbon tax was first mooted in the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan approved by Parliament in September 2020, while the digital tax was proposed in the Budget Strategy Paper of October 2020.Giving an update on the digital tax at a BURS...
The latest projections are contained in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday and follow from the October WEO. The IMF’s latest forecast is the same level that the Finance and Economic Development ministry projected in...
Whenever the issue of regional industrialisation is discussed at SACU level, the elephant in the room is the domination of Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini by South Africa.Critics of SACU, which is the world’s oldest customs union, say to...
In a televised address, Masisi announced the creation of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, while mandates of other ministries were either merged or moved within Cabinet. The new Cabinet has 18 ministries, which is the same number as the previous...
Harvard law professor, Matthew Stephenson says where the criminals of yesteryear used to hide their loot in suitcases under mattresses, cryptocurrencies have removed the limits of both the suitcases and the mattresses.“If the suitcase full of cash...