Botswana pins hopes on diamond sector recovery

BOTSWANA is pinning hopes for a recovery in the economy on the diamond sector, according to a report by Reuters.It cited Botswana finance minister Ndaba Gaolathe as saying in a budget speech that the country’s economy would grow 3.3% this year after a contraction in 2024.“This growth outlook is premised on recovery of the diamond industry, which is expected in the latter part of 2025, and continued positive sentiment in the non-diamond mining sectors,” said Gaolathe who also called for economic diversification.Gaolathe echoed President Duma Boko, who came to power in November following a landslide election upset and has vowed to diversify Botswana’s economy. “Botswana’s reliance on diamond revenues has been both a strength and a vulnerability,” Gaolathe said in the Reuters article.Last week, Botswana and diamond giant De Beers said they had finalised talks on a rough diamond sales deal and on extending mining licences for their Debswana joint venture there to 2054.On February 6 De Beers slashed production guidance by as much as 40% to between 20 million to 23 million carats for the 2025 financial year.The move recognises little chance of a major recovery in the diamond market this year continuing difficult conditions last year. De Beers will report “a marginally” negative Ebitda for the second half of its 2024 financial year (+$300m Ebitda in H1).The company, 85%-owned by Anglo American, will also book an impairment in its 2024 numbers after “assessing the impact of diamond market conditions and general fall in demand in China”.Reuters reported separately that marriages in China, which helps drive diamonds in bridal jewellery, plummeted by a fifth last year – representing the biggest drop on record.Declining interest in getting married and starting a family has long been blamed on the high cost of childcare and education in China, said Reuters.On top of that, sputtering economic growth over the past few years has made it difficult for university graduates to find work and those that do have jobs feel insecure about their long-term prospects.Botswana’s focus would be on expanding key sectors such as tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and energy, said Reuters citing Goalathe’s speech.The southern African country’s economy is estimated to have shrunk by 3.1% last year, Gaolathe said, which is a bigger contraction than the 1.7% forecast in December by the government.Gaolathe said the budget deficit for the 2025/26 financial year running from April to March was estimated to fall to 7.56% of gross domestic product (GDP), lower than the current financial year’s estimated deficit of 9% of GDP.The post Botswana pins hopes on diamond sector recovery appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com