Improved demand for diamonds helped Botswana post a budget surplus for the six months through September, according to media reports.
Bloomberg quoted the finance ministry as saying that the southern African nation registered a budget surplus of $46.9 million or 0.55% of gross domestic product, in the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2023.
The budget surplus was anchored by a 66% increase in mineral revenues, mainly due to improved diamond exports.
Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government sold rough diamonds worth 54.9 billion pula in the 11 months through November 2022 compared to 38.1 billion pula in 2021.
However, the finance ministry said the projected budget deficit of 7.7 billion pula, or 3.4% of GDP, for the current fiscal year remains unchanged.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Bloomberg quoted the finance ministry as saying that the southern African nation registered a budget surplus of $46.9 million or 0.55% of gross domestic product, in the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2023.
The budget surplus was anchored by a 66% increase in mineral revenues, mainly due to improved diamond exports.
Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government sold rough diamonds worth 54.9 billion pula in the 11 months through November 2022 compared to 38.1 billion pula in 2021.
However, the finance ministry said the projected budget deficit of 7.7 billion pula, or 3.4% of GDP, for the current fiscal year remains unchanged.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
