Budget strategy paper uncertain about 2024 Water and electricity consumption contributed big time to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022, according to Statistics Botswana, sparking a 5.8 percent growth in the economy, compared to 11.9 the previous year.

The 2024/25 Budget Strategy Paper released last week shows that the water and electricity topped the chart of fastest growing sectors at 48.6 percent, followed by diamond traders at 17.6 percent, and manufacturing at 8.2 percent.

�Growth of these sectors was attributable to increased local electricity production, increased sales in rough diamonds and strong activity in diamond mainstream industries. The mining sector also contributed to overall growth in the economy on account of strong demand for rough diamonds during the year,� explains the document.

The Finance Ministry also observed that almost half of the total growth came from non-diamond private sector, while diamond activities were responsible for just under 40 percent of the growth. Other sectors with notable contributions included Accommodation and Food Services, and Transport and Storage.

�However, it is anticipated that the performance of the economy will be slower in the second half of the year, as growth in the mining sector moderates. On the back of this, real GDP growth is revised downwards by 2 percentage points to 3.8 percent in 2023 from 4 percent that was earlier projected in January 2023,� the ministry says.

Additionally, as the Russia Ukraine war rumbles on, anticipated growth could drop even further depending on the dynamics of the conflict, as well as economic fortunes in neighbouring South Africa.

Source: The Voice

Author: BAME PIET