Trade and Regional Integration in Botswana: FY2019/20

Botswana's exports have been steady during the period from 2015 to 2018. The growth in exports has resulted in a steady increase in gross official foreign exchange reserves. Import demand has been volatile due to fluctuations in the exchange rate which has not affected Botswana’s current account balance. Botswana is still heavily dependent on diamonds which are also its top-traded good with within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). However, Botswana is highly integrated in the SADC region albeit unbalanced due to its low levels of intraregional exports and very high levels of intraregional imports. This suggests that there is significant room to increase Botswana’s exports to SADC which is also an opportunity to diversify exports.