Research and consulting in Botswana
Country Overview:
IOA has been a long-time provider of in-depth research and data-based consulting services on Botswana. Our experts have concluded that Botswana’s reputation as one of Africa’s best developmental success stories and Africa’s longest and perhaps most stable democracy is soundly founded. In recent years, the large, arid, landlocked country’s economic and environmental problems have brought challenges to its laudable governance and anti-corruption records. However, government asserts that Botswana is on its way to advance from the middle-income country it is today to becoming a high-income country in 2036.
Policies to achieve that goal include the promotion of value-added manufacturing for the backbone of Botswana’s economy, its mining output. Botswana is Africa’s largest diamond producer, and export revenue earned from gemstone finances government operations and social welfare programmes.
Key opportunities in Botswana:
- Promotion of local diamond sorting, cutting and polishing operations – all of which were recently done overseas – has added value to its mineral production
- Botswana hosts Africa’s largest elephant population, and the country’s wealth of other wild animal groups is responsible for a robust tourism industry
- Government’s policy to build industrial parks is coupled with programmes to transform a highly literate and educated population into a skilled workforce needed for a diversified economy
Key concerns/risks in Botswana:
- Diamond dependency – 80% of export revenue – requires economic diversification to cushion for economic shocks, such as the Covid-19 pandemic that cut diamond demand and caused the economy to contract 9% in 2020
- Climate change puts arid countries at particular risk from rising temperatures, and Botswana must prioritise water security against recurring droughts
- Despite fair-to-good economic performance each year, economic inequity remains among the world’s highest, with future social conflict inevitable if this is not addressed
A sample IOA research report on Botswana: