Botswana: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release and Staff Report

International Monetary Fund

No 2024/286, IMF Staff Country Reports from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: The 2024 Article IV Consultation discusses that Botswana’s economic growth is expected to slow to 1 percent in 2024 primarily because of a diamond market contraction, before picking up next year. Inflation has declined sharply since the peak of mid-2022 and returned to the central bank’s medium-term objective range of 3–6 percent, where it is expected to remain in the medium term. Some fiscal relaxation is warranted this year given the fall in mineral revenues, but the ambitious capital budget should be streamlined to contain the deterioration of the deficit and prioritize projects with the highest value for money. The monetary policy stance is appropriate, but monetary policy transmission remains limited, requiring further deepening of the interbank, credit, and government bond markets along the transmission chain. Reducing inequality and unemployment requires a more job-intensive, private sector-led, and export-oriented growth model. Reform of state-owned enterprises, improved infrastructure for doing business (internet, energy, and logistics), trade facilitation measures, and a more efficient social protection system should be prioritized.

Keywords: IMF's article; OPEC Fund for International Development; project obligations to fund; objective range; diamond market contraction; IMF team; Non-renewable resources; Financial sector stability; Global; Southern Africa; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 67
Date: 2024-09-10
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=554633 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfscr:2024/286

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Staff Country Reports from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi ().