Botswana increased its rough and polished diamond exports by more than 200 percent in September after recording poor results in August, the central bank’s latest data shows.
The Bank of Botswana said in a monthly report that the southern African country exported gems worth $304.9 million during the period under scrutiny up from $95.9 million, a month earlier.
Reports say this was the highest total value of diamond exports by Botswana since 2007.
However, the August export figures issued by the central bank were conflicting, as data released by the country’s Central Statistics Office recently showed that Botswana shipped gems worth BWP4.68 billion ($594 million) during the same month.
The Bank of Botswana data also said that the country had exported gems worth $2.44 billion in the first three quarters of the year.
Meanwhile, the central bank revised Botswana’s export figures for July from the previous $260.4 million to $316.9 million.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
