Image credit: Debswana
(spearswms.com) - When Botswana gained independence from Britain in 1966, it was one of the poorest countries on the planet. Per capita income was around $80 a year – just 15 per cent of the global average, according to World Bank figures. But the following year, the southern African nation’s fortunes began to transform. A vast diamond deposit was discovered in Orapa, a small town in the country’s Central District. It is now the largest diamond mine in the world. By 2018, Botswana’s GDP per capita had risen to $17,948. The country is now one of the wealthiest in sub-Saharan Africa. Elsewhere in Africa, the way the proceeds of the industry are used remains the subject of controversy. In 2003 the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was established to prevent proceeds from diamonds being used to fund violence. Today, however, various groups argue that the scope of the process is too narrow, and that any sanctions are too easy to circumvent.
