Introduction - special issue on Botswana economy

Abstract

Botswana’s economic performance from the 1970s has been one of the best in Africa, comparable with the performance of some East Asian countries. This is mainly because of the development strategies and policies adopted by the Government of Botswana, and the focus laid by the National Development Planning on the objective of achieving rapid economic growth with social justice.During the last three years, and similar to many others, the Botswana economy has been experiencing slow growth. The slow growth can be attributed mainly to the decline in diamond exports. Botswana’s high dependence on diamond income has a major influence on the economy’s slowdown, which has also adversely affected the Government’s spending on major projects. Manufacturing and tourism sectors have also been hard hit during the current recession, resulting in an increase in the rate of unemployment. Despite this somewhat gloomy backdrop, there are signs of recovery as the diamond market is slowly improving. Several macroeconomic indicators have also taken a turn for the better.