Reduce inequality for longer growth

Mmegi: "The experts consulted with local fiscal, monetary and private sector players as well as other stakeholders in June, producing two reports detailing its assessment of economic issues in Botswana. In the second of these reports, a "selected issues" note released last Friday, the IMF experts said the gap between the rich and the poor continued to be wide, despite the expansion of welfare programmes and economic growth over the years.

"Botswana has been able to sustain high economic growth for the past five decades and is considered to be one the best performers in sub-Saharan Africa," the IMF researchers said. "However, not all of Botswana's policies promoted inclusive growth and human development in a broad-based manner.
"Poverty and inequality remain high, and the shortcomings of labour market policies are evident with an unemployment rate of about 18 percent. "Botswana's income inequality is one of the highest in the world especially when compared with other high middle-income countries.""

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Firestone Satisfied With Recent Diamond Tender

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The Vivid Diamond

Diamond company Firestone says it is content with the results of their most recent sales of diamonds mined in Lesotho, calling them 'encouraging', Mining Weekly reported. The twin tenders, which were conducted in Gaborone, Botswana and Antwerp, Belgium, secured per-carat prices for Firestone's diamonds that were higher than prices from previous tenders.

Zimbabwe To Float Tender For Gas Exploration In Lupane

Industry experts say Hwange holds vast deposits of coal-bed methane gas, some of it estimated to be 95 percent pure methane - hidden between the area and neighbouring Botswana.

Energy and Power Development minister Elton Mangoma said US$12 million has been set aside for the quantification of the gas in Lupane.

"We are going to float a tender this month for the quantification of gas in Lupane to enable us to decide what sort of plant to put there.

"We hope that the documents will come back by October and between December 2012 and January 2013 we should have completed the exercise," he said.

He said work to set up the appropriate plant will start in the first quarter of 2013.

"The quantity of deposits will also determine what the gas will be used for. The first priority is power generation. If there is more we can use it to manufacture fertilizers as well as pumping it to people's homes for domestic use," Mangoma said.