Press release
The banking sector, through which most payments take place, is stable and profitable, President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has said.
President Khama said this during the launch of new family of Botswana coin held in Gaborone on February 27 stating that more banks had recently established a presence in the country.
He said all the positive developments were testimony to the confidence the public and international community had in the national currency, and to the widely attested record of prudent economic management, for which the country was rightly recognised.
The government, he said, had continued to uphold the principles of prudent economic management because it was vital to do so in the interests of long-term sustainable economic growth. "We have continued a programme of fiscal consolidation, despite the challenges arising from upheavals in the global economy," he said.
He said it was of critical importance to avoid a possible accumulation of unsustainable public debt that could, if left unchecked, undermine the stability of the currency and the economy generally.
President Khama quoted the Minister of Finance and Planning's budget speech which stated that, "it is important that the country returns to budgetary surpluses which stand us in good stead in times of economic downturn."
Bank of Botswana, he said, had supported economic growth principally by ensuring that the rate of price increases benign, in line with its mandate of fighting inflation. Inflation had to a large extent been kept at low and sustainable levels in response to monetary policy, which has been adjusted from time to time, as necessary.
The bank rate, he said, had been reduced by two percentage points since April 2013, such that market interest rates were supportive of domestic activity, as well as the government's objectives of economic diversification and job creation.
President Khama stated that the objectives were further supported by the exchange rate policy, the parameters of which were recently made public by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning with a view to anchor public expectations of the Pula exchange rate.
President Khama said this during the launch of new family of Botswana coin held in Gaborone on February 27 stating that more banks had recently established a presence in the country.
He said all the positive developments were testimony to the confidence the public and international community had in the national currency, and to the widely attested record of prudent economic management, for which the country was rightly recognised.
The government, he said, had continued to uphold the principles of prudent economic management because it was vital to do so in the interests of long-term sustainable economic growth. "We have continued a programme of fiscal consolidation, despite the challenges arising from upheavals in the global economy," he said.
He said it was of critical importance to avoid a possible accumulation of unsustainable public debt that could, if left unchecked, undermine the stability of the currency and the economy generally.
President Khama quoted the Minister of Finance and Planning's budget speech which stated that, "it is important that the country returns to budgetary surpluses which stand us in good stead in times of economic downturn."
Bank of Botswana, he said, had supported economic growth principally by ensuring that the rate of price increases benign, in line with its mandate of fighting inflation. Inflation had to a large extent been kept at low and sustainable levels in response to monetary policy, which has been adjusted from time to time, as necessary.
The bank rate, he said, had been reduced by two percentage points since April 2013, such that market interest rates were supportive of domestic activity, as well as the government's objectives of economic diversification and job creation.
President Khama stated that the objectives were further supported by the exchange rate policy, the parameters of which were recently made public by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning with a view to anchor public expectations of the Pula exchange rate.
