Starting point
A call for economic diversification
Botswana has long been recognised as a successful African example of national economic development on the back of natural resource exploitation. Debswana, the world’s leading diamond producer by value, has been central to this story: output from its four mines across the country contributes a staggering 30% of national GDP.
Economic assessment at the sub-national level is more ambiguous, however, as mining has often failed to meet expectations. Local economic concerns are compounded by the approaching reality of mine closure. In the absence of alternative opportunities, the decommissioning of operations will hit host regions particularly hard. The Government of Botswana is actively considering the next phase of national development, giving prominence to investment in the non-mining economy.
