Diamond-Dependent Botswana Needs Economic Reset, New Leader Says
- Country is richest in mainland Africa on a per-capita basis
- Boko to push for new industries, increase in state borrowing
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Botswana’s government will develop new industries, dismantle the state power utility to foster private investment and increase concessional borrowing as part of a plan to diversify the diamond-dependent economy, President Duma Boko said.
While gems mined by Debswana — a venture between Anglo American Plc’s De Beers unit and the government — account for 80% of Botswana’s economy, they aren’t creating enough jobs, which raises the risk of instability in the arid nation of 2.5 million people, Boko said in an interview. The country is mainland Africa’s richest relative to the size of the population.