Sad economic results continue. Botswana is one bright spot — here’s a Gapminder chart comparing Botswana and South Africa. That’s raw 2004 World Bank GDP/capita, before PPP adjustment. The World Bank PPP-adjusted data is at Wikipedia:
Since independence, Botswana has had one of the fastest growth rates in per capita income in the world.[1] Botswana has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $11,200 in 2006.[2] Economic growth averaged over 9% per year from 1966 to 1999. The government has maintained a sound fiscal policy, despite consecutive budget deficits in 2002 and 2003, and a negligible level of foreign debt. It earned the highest sovereign credit rating in Africa and has stockpiled foreign exchange reserves (over $7 billion in 2005/2006) amounting to almost two and a half years of current imports. Botswana’s impressive economic record has been built on the foundation of wisely using revenue generated from diamond mining to fuel economic development through prudent fiscal policies and a cautious foreign policy. Debswana, the only diamond mining company operating in Botswana, is 50% owned by the government and generates about half of all government revenues. In 2007, significant quantities of Uranium were discovered, and mining is projected to begin by 2010. Several international mining corporations have prospected in Botswana for diamonds, gold, uranium, copper, and even oil, many coming back with positive results.
Here are updated 2006 figures from the IMF World Economic Outlook Database, April 2007.
Angola, Chad and Liberia had the fastest GDP growth per capita in 2006 from the prior year.
0 Responses to “Africa: economic development”