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Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens refer to themselves as Batswana (singular: Motswana).
Botswana is topographically flat, with up to 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred meters long.
A mid-sized country of just over 2 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated nations in the world. Around 10 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone.
Botswana has a growing financial sector, and the country's national stock market, the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), based in Gaborone, is given the responsibility to operate and regulate the equities and fixed interest securities market. Formally established in 1989, the BSE continues to be pivotal to Botswana’s financial system, and in particular the capital market, as an avenue on which government, quasi-government and the private sector can raise debt and equity capital. Although the BSE has just under 40 companies listed, it plays host to the most pre-eminent companies doing business in Botswana. These companies represent a spectrum of industries and commerce, from Banking and financial services to Wholesaling and Retailing, Tourism and Information Technology.
To date, the BSE is one of Africa’s best performing stock exchanges, averaging 24% aggregate return in the past decade. This has allowed the BSE to be the third largest stock exchange, in terms of market capitalization, in Southern Africa.
Given Botswana's lack of exchange controls, stable currency and exceptionally performing stock market, the financial sector has attracted a host of global investors seeking better returns.
Botswana's currency, the pula, is fully convertible and is valued against a basket of currencies heavily weighted toward the South African Rand. Profits and direct investment can be repatriated without restriction from Botswana. The Botswana Government eliminated all exchange controls in 1999. The Central Bank devalued the Pula by 7.5% in February 2004 in a bid to maintain export competitiveness against the real appreciation of the Pula. There was a further 12% devaluation in May 2005 and the policy of a "Crawling peg" was adopted.
The recently established Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) is responsible for the oversight of all non-banking financial services entities in the country. As of 2005, about 54 percent of Botswana’s population had access to formal or informal financial services, and 43 percent is banked (with access to at least one formal banking product). The overall access ratio is still low, especially in rural areas, where there are 3.8 branches and 73 ATMs per 100,000 people. Mobile banking services have just started to be offered. In recent years the government and Central Bank have undertaken serious steps to modernize the country’s payment system infrastructure. These efforts included the establishment of a code-line clearing system for the exchange of cheques and electronic funds as well as a Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, including SWIFT connection. The stock exchange implemented a Central Securities Depository in 2007. Remittance Flows for Botswana amounted to USD 117 million in 2007, a figure that is higher than the total net value of official development assistance.
Gaborone is host to the headquarters of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC). A successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), which focused its efforts on freeing regional economic development from dependence on apartheid in South Africa, SADC embraced the newly democratic South Africa as a member in 1994 and has a broad mandate to encourage growth, development, and economic integration in Southern Africa. SADC's Trade Protocol, which was launched on 1 September 2000, calls for the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade by 2012 among the 11 signatory countries. If successful, it will give Botswana companies free access to the far larger regional market. The Regional Center for Southern Africa (RCSA), which implements the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA), is headquartered in Gaborone as well.
Agriculture | Corn, millet, beans, sorghum, vegetables, beef. |
Manufacture | Diamonds, potash, soda ash, salt, nickel, copper. |
Agriculture | 1.9% |
Industry | 35.7% |
Services (Including financial) | 62.4% (2013 estimate) |
Company | Industry |
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Debswana | Diamonds & Coal |
Botswana Meat Commission | Consumer goods |
Bank of Botswana | Financial |
Botswana Stock Exchange | Financial |
Botswana Railways | Industry |
The Botswana Gazette | Media |
Botswana TV | Media |
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation | Telecommunication |
Air Botswana | Airlines |
Botswana Power Corporation | Utilities |
Top Exports |
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Textiles |
Meat |
Copper |
Nickel |
Diamonds |
Top Imports |
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Metal & Metal products |
Transport Equipment |
Wood & Paper products |
Electrical Energy |
Petroleum Oils & Fuel |
The Botswana Stock Exchange is a small but thriving stock exchange located in Gaborone, Botswana. The Botswana share market was established in 1989 and became the Botswana Stock Exchange in 1995. It is governed by the Botswana Stock Exchange Act.
The BSE has about 35 market listings and 3 stock indices: the Domestic company index (BSE DCI); the Foreign company index (BSE FCI), incorporating companies which are dual listed on the BSE and another stock exchange; and the All Company Index, which is a weighted average of the DCI and FCI. As well as equities, BDC bond and Investec Floating Rate Notes are traded. Private investors are estimated to account for under 10% of the total market capitalization. Foreign-based mining companies make up over 90%.
The exchange's normal trading sessions are from 09:30 to 10:30 on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.
The licensing authority for brokers in Botswana is the Ministry of Finance. Membership may be corporate or individual.
The global economic crisis of 2008/2009 had several negative consequences on Botswana’s economy. Overall, real GDP contracted by 6% following a revised growth rate of 3.1% in 2008 (Central Statistic Office, 2010). Although less severe than originally feared, a significant number of companies closed down and triggered job losses. Mining was the sector most directly affected and was, in fact, the conduit through which the global recession was transmitted to Botswana. As of March 2009, employment in mining and quarrying had declined from 11 673 to 10 592, representing a decline of 9.3% while manufacturing recorded a slight decline of half a percentage point, from 35 888 to 35 704 (Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, 2010). These adverse developments have had repercussions on the welfare of poor and vulnerable people in Botswana. Although the effects on poverty and vulnerability of the global economic recession will be known in 2010 when results of the 2009 Core Welfare Indicators Survey are published, the effect on poverty and vulnerability is likely to be acute, especially given Botswana’s high rates of dependency.
To mitigate the impact of the global economic recession on unemployment, the Government introduced the Ipeleng Programme – a temporal employment programme on a rotational basis in July 2008. This is a long term programme targeting people with no or limited sources of income. Since April 2009, the programme has cumulatively employed 234 462 people, made up of, 172 686 females and 61 776 males.
In addition to this Botswana has Safety Nets system, which includes the Universal Old Age Pension that offers financial security to the elderly citizens, thus providing income to those who are 65 years of age and above and cash transfer system, such as the Program for Destitute Persons (food, cash transfers for the destitute and also access to social services); the Orphan Care program (cash transfer, food basket for orphans with additional support); the Vulnerable Group Feeding Programme (distribution of meals); and the World War II Veterans Allowance.
Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. Since then, it has maintained a strong tradition of stable representative democracy, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections.
Formerly one of the poorest countries in the world—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—Botswana has since transformed itself into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The economy is dominated by mining, cattle, and tourism. Botswana boasts a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $18,825 per year as of 2015, which is one of the highest in Africa. Its high gross national income (by some estimates the fourth-largest in Africa) gives the country a modest standard of living and the highest Human Development Index of continental Sub-Saharan Africa.
Botswana is a member of the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations. The country has been among the hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The death rate due to AIDS or AIDS-related causes has fallen sharply (57%) from 2005 to 2013, and the number of new infections in children has also fallen. Despite the success in programs to make treatments available to those infected, and to educate the populace in general about how to stop the spread of HIV AIDS, the number of people with AIDS rose from 290,000 in 2005 to 320,000 in 2013. Despite these reasons for hope, Botswana has the third highest prevalence rate for HIV AIDS, reported in 2014.
Ian Khama (President) | Mokgweetsi Masisi (Vice President) | Gogontlejang Phaladi (Humanitarian) | Moses Dinekere Pelaelo (Chairman of Bank of Botswana) |
The pula is the currency of Botswana. It has the ISO 4217 code BWP and is subdivided into 100 thebe. Pula literally means "rain" in Setswana, because rain is very scarce in Botswana — home to much of the Kalahari Desert — and therefore valuable and a blessing. The sub-unit, thebe, means "shield", representing defense. The names were picked with the help of the public.
The pula was introduced in 1976, replacing the South African rand at par. Despite a 12% devaluation in May 2005, the pula remains one of the strongest currencies in Africa.
On August 23, 1976, the Bank of Botswana introduced notes in denominations of 1, 2, 5, and 10 pula; a 20-pula note followed on February 16, 1978. The 1 and 2 pula notes were replaced by coins in 1991 and 1994, whilst the first 50 and 100 pula notes were introduced on May 29, 1990 and August 23, 1993, respectively. The 5 pula note was replaced by a coin in 2000. The original 1, 2 and 5 pula banknotes were demonetized on 1 July 2011.
The latest series of notes was introduced on 23 August 2009 and contains for the first time, a 200-pula banknote.
In 1976, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 thebe and 1 pula. The 1 thebe was struck in aluminum, with the 5 thebe in bronze and the others in cupro-nickel. These coins were round except for the scalloped 1 pula. Bronze, dodecagonal 2 thebe coins were introduced in 1981 and discontinued after 1985. In 1991, bronze-plated steel replaced bronze in the 5 thebe, nickel-plated steel replaced cupro-nickel in the 10, 25 and 50 thebe and the 1 pula changed to a smaller, nickel-brass, equilateral-curve seven-sided coin. A similarly shaped, nickel-brass 2 pula was introduced in 1994. In 2004, the composition was changed to brass-plated steel and the size was slightly reduced.
In 1998, following the withdrawal of the 1 and 2 thebe, smaller 5, 10, 25 and 50 thebe coins were introduced, with the 5 and 25 thebe coins being seven-sided and the 10 and 50 thebe coins remaining round. A bimetallic 5 pula depicting a caterpillar and a branch of the mopane tree it feeds on was introduced in 2000 composed of a cupronickel center in a ring made of aluminum-nickel-bronze. A new series of coins was introduced in 2013.
National Song | "Fatshe leno la rona" |
Currency | Botswana pula (BWP) |
Languages | English |
Population | 2.154 Millions |
GDP / GDP Rank | 36.708 Billion USD |
GDP Growth Rate | -0.3 Percent |
GDP Per Captial | $17041.582 (PPP) |
Size | 582,000 km² |
Inflation | 2.81 Percent |
Time Zone | UTC+02:00 (CAT) |
Interest Rate | 5.00% |
Religion | 72.1% Christians < 1.0% Muslims < 1.0% Hindus < 1.0% Buddhists < 1.0% Jews < 1.0% Other Religions |
Ethnic Group | Tswana (Or Setswana) 79% Kalanga 11% Basarwa 3% Other |
Government | Republic President – Mokgweetsi Masisi |
Website | Go to the web |
Driving Side | LEFT |
Public Debt | 13.886 Percent |
Import | $5.998 Billion |
Export | $7.58 Billion |
Unemployment Rate | 18.373 Percent |
Labor Force | 1308000 |
Labor Force (Occupation) | - |
Culture | - |