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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.

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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.